The unhealthy grind
This is a slightly different post than usual but I think equally important as I write a lot about growing as an engineer. I personally enjoy growing mostly because I want to learn new things, build systems and in general not get bored – the extra income is nice tough.
You may want to grow for different and good reasons, we are all different people living in different environments. For example, I think it’s perfectly fine to want to get promoted for money – the more money you have, the more interesting things you can do outside of work. Not every software engineer can also afford the lifestyle of those senior folks in the bay area too.
With that being said, I do think there are unhealthy reasons to grow – e.g. when your goal is just to crush your peers and to be better than them (in regards to income, title etc.). The main issues being that:
- You’ll never be satisfied – there is always more money to be made and higher titles to get
- You will never be happy – there will always be someone who has more money, who grew faster than you or who is above you on the corp ladder. The best illustration of this point is probably the Blind social network where people care so much about compensation that it has become a toxic trait
- Your drive is actually going to hurt your growth. If your goal is to be better than your peers, you will likely end up being selfish and others won’t enjoy working with you. In the tech industry, promotions are often based on peer feedback, and no one will want to work with you or support your promotion
- You will focus on practical gaps to get to the next level without being able to take a step back and actually grow. You’ll execute what you’re told you’re lacking but will struggle to understand why and sustain such performance
Engineers want to follow their kind and good leadership rather than their selfish executives. This network again is what will help you grow beyond senior engineer levels.