Do you have a good taste of what you are doing?

2 minute read

There is this stereotype impression about technology industry, that it is a cruel game only for energetic and ambitious young men, when you get old, you will be kicked out mercilessly.

This doesn’t bother me so much since I was still young a few years ago, but since now I am getting older it starts to act as a background noise that grabbed me more and more attention.

Is this the truth? Do I have to quit at , say 35 years old or move to some kind of manager?

I guess the anwser to this question really depends on what type of person you find yourself really are during all the years of experience.

Some people starts as a tech professional, and over 5 years of doing developing work, finds out that he hates it. But then since he now has that 5 years of experience anyway, the best for him would be to move to management, well, probably.

So there is nothing wrong for developers to move to management positions, as long as they are happy with it.

But what about the developers that know by heart that they don’t want to manage other people or the business? Is tech a deadend in the end?

Well, maybe let’s think of it in another angle. What makes you more valuable over the years of experience?

Is it that the new framework just comes out? No, since you’ve probabaly never heard of it.

Is it your coding velocity? No, you are not a typist for god’s sake.

Well, you may say it must be all the experience, right?

But what is so special about the experience? what is the essence of it?

I think it’s all about good taste.

When you see more, experience more, do more, you gradually acquire a good taste. You can tell good things from bad ones. You can sense what we should do next. You can predict the failure we are running into.

Now thinking of it, it is actually true in other industries as well. It is all about good taste. It is even more important than the skills you have. (You have to have skills in the first place to get a good taste anyway)

But what tastes good can change over time, so we just keep ajusting our taste, that is also important to keep in mind. What look sleek and cool 20 years ago may be totally irrelavent nowadays!

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