Best of Reddit - Experienced Developers

r/cscareerquestions • 847 comments

15.2k upvotes

Anyone with 10+ YOE having a hard time finding jobs?

OP (12 years experience) describes struggling to find a new position:

The Reality Check:

"With 10+ years, you're expensive. Companies want seniors with 3-5 years who are still 'hungry.' At 10+ years, they worry you'll push back, want too much money, or be set in your ways."

— u/IndustryVeteran_15y

The Counter-Strategy:

"I rebranded myself as 'Staff Engineer / Architect' instead of 'Senior Developer.' Different market, different expectations. 20% pay bump, better WLB."

— u/ArchitectMindset

The Warning:

"Don't get comfortable. At 10+ years, if you haven't moved into leadership, architecture, or consulting, you're competing with cheaper 5-year devs who know the same frameworks."

r/ExperiencedDevs • 1.2k comments

8.7k upvotes

Where do you find the mental energy to succeed at a bad position?

OP is a senior dev in a toxic work environment. The responses from 10+ year veterans:

The Hard Truth:

"You don't. At 10+ years, you should have the financial cushion and skills to leave bad situations. If you're still grinding in toxic environments after a decade, something went wrong with your career planning."

— u/FIRE_Engineer_12y

The Strategy:

"I treat bad jobs as temporary income while I line up the next thing. Never emotionally invest. Do good work, collect paycheck, network externally, leave in 6-12 months with better title and pay."

— u/JobHopper_Strategy

The Veteran Insight:

"After 15 years, I realized: your career is a business. You're selling services. Bad clients (employers) get dropped. Good clients get priority. Detach emotionally."

r/SaaS • 634 comments

9.8k upvotes

I was a senior engineer at Google for 8 years. Left to build a SaaS. Here's what happened.

The full story from a former Google L6 engineer:

The Decision:

"$450k/year wasn't worth my 20s and 30s. Golden handcuffs are real. I watched colleagues become millionaires but miserable."

The Build:

"Year 1: $0 revenue, burned savings. Year 2: $2k MRR, barely surviving. Year 3: $18k MRR, finally paying myself. Year 4: $45k MRR, hired 2 people."

The Lesson:

"Big tech teaches you to over-engineer. My first SaaS was a microservice monstrosity. Second version: monolith, simple, fast. Customers don't care about your architecture."

"Would I do it again? Yes. But I'd keep consulting on the side for cash flow. Pure entrepreneurship is unnecessarily hard."

r/fatFIRE • 892 comments

12.4k upvotes

Software engineers who retired early - how did you do it?

Collection of stories from devs who achieved financial independence:

Case Study 1: The Contractor

"13 years of contracting. $150-200k/year, lived on $60k. Invested the rest. Retired at 42 with $3.2M. Trick was keeping expenses low while income was high."

— u/Contractor_FI

Case Study 2: The Stock Options

"Joined 3 startups that exited. First one: $200k. Second: $800k. Third: $1.2M. Total 11 years, then retired at 38. Pure luck on which startups succeeded, but I knew the space."

— u/StartupLottery

Case Study 3: The Side Business

"Day job at FAANG ($280k). Side SaaS grew to $15k/month. When side income hit $20k, quit. 3 years later sold for $2M. Still consulting 10 hours/week for fun."

— u/ParallelEntrepreneur

Common theme: "All of us lived below our means during high-earning years. That's the secret. Not the income, the gap between income and spending."

r/sidehustle • 567 comments

7.3k upvotes

Senior dev making $8k/month from side project while working full-time

OP (senior backend dev, 9 years exp) explains his approach:

The Product:

"API monitoring tool. Built it because I needed it at work. Realized others did too."

The Timeline:

"Year 1: Built nights/weekends. Launched with 0 users. Year 2: $500/month. Year 3: $3k/month. Year 4: $8k/month. Compounding is real."

The Strategy:

"Didn't quit job until $5k/month for 6+ months. Income diversification > All-in risk."

"The advantage of being senior: I know what problems exist. Junior devs build solutions to problems they imagine. Senior devs build solutions to problems they've experienced."

r/cscareerquestions • 1.5k comments

11.8k upvotes

What I wish I knew at 25 as a developer (now 38)

13-year veteran's retrospective:

1.

Job hopping is underrated

"Staying 4+ years at one place gave me 3% raises. Changing jobs every 2-3 years: 20-30% jumps. Same skills, 3x the pay progression."

2.

Soft skills > hard skills

"I know devs who write terrible code but communicate well. They're VPs. I know brilliant coders who can't explain anything. They're still ICs."

3.

Health is the real wealth

"At 35 I had RSI, back problems, and burnout. Took 6 months to recover. No salary is worth destroying your body."

4.

Specialize, don't generalize

"Being 'full stack' meant I was mediocre at everything. When I specialized in distributed systems, my salary doubled. Depth beats breadth for pay."

5.

Build a network

"Every good job I got was through someone I knew. Recruiters are noise. Direct referrals are signal."

r/ExperiencedDevs • 423 comments

6.1k upvotes

Remote work as a senior developer: The good, bad, and ugly after 4 years

11-year veteran's remote work reality:

✅ The Good

• No commute = 2 hours/day back
• Deep work without interruptions
• Can live anywhere (cheaper COL)
• Better work-life balance

❌ The Bad

• Career progression slows
• Out of sight, out of mind
• Harder to build relationships
• Isolation is real

"The ugly truth: I'm more productive remote, but I'm less promotable. At senior level, promotions come from visibility and politics, not just code. Remote makes you invisible."

— u/RemoteSeniorDev

The Fix:

"I do 2 weeks remote, 1 week in-office. Best of both. Companies are flexible for senior talent. Ask for it."

r/ExperiencedDevs • 678 comments

5.9k upvotes

Side projects: Worth it or waste of time for senior devs?

Discussion on value of side projects after 10+ years:

The Pro Side Project:

"My side project taught me more in 2 years than 5 years of work. No PMs, no meetings, just pure building. Led to a startup offer."

— u/SideProjectSuccess

The Anti Side Project:

"After coding 40-50 hours/week for a decade, the last thing I want to do is more coding on weekends. I garden, I travel, I live. Burnout is real."

— u/WorkLifeBalance_Matters

The Middle Ground:

"Side projects for money: worth it. Side projects for 'portfolio': waste. At 10+ years, your work history speaks louder than GitHub repos."

— u/PracticalVeteran

Verdict:

"If it makes money or teaches you a new domain, do it. If it's just for 'practice,' your time is better spent on rest or relationships."

r/cscareerquestions • 923 comments

8.4k upvotes

Burned out at 34 after 12 years. Taking a 6-month break. What I learned.

Honest retrospective from a burned-out senior engineer:

The Warning Signs I Ignored:

• Couldn't focus for more than 30 minutes
• Dreaded Sunday evenings
• Snapped at coworkers over small things
• Lost interest in side projects (my passion)
• Physical symptoms: headaches, insomnia

The 6-Month Break:

"First month: Slept 10 hours/day, felt guilty. Second month: Started enjoying things again. Third month: Realized I didn't miss coding. Fourth month: Missed problem-solving, not corporate BS. Fifth month: Started small projects for fun. Sixth month: Ready to work again, but differently."

The New Rules:

• No on-call for personal projects
• No unpaid overtime, ever
• 4 weeks vacation minimum
• No meetings before 10am (I'm not a morning person)
• If I don't want to do it, I say no

"Your career is a marathon, not a sprint. I sprinted for 12 years and collapsed. Now I'm jogging. Turns out you can still win the race while jogging."

r/ExperiencedDevs • 1.1k comments

7.7k upvotes

From $60k to $350k in 10 years: My salary progression as a dev

Full transparency on 10-year salary journey:

Year 0-2

$60k

Junior at startup

Year 2-4

$95k

First job hop

Year 4-6

$130k

Mid-level at Series B

Year 6-8

$180k

Senior at FAANG

Year 8-10

$250k

Staff + stock growth

Year 10

$350k

Total comp (TC)

The pattern: "Each big jump came from changing companies, not promotions. Internal promotions: 5-10%. Job changes: 30-50%."

The stock secret: "Real wealth came from RSUs, not salary. Salary went 60→350. But stock appreciation added another $200k/year at the end."

The advice: "Don't chase salary early. Chase equity at growing companies. One lucky break beats 10 years of grinding."

📊 Summary

Common Themes from 10+ Year Veterans

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Job hopping accelerates income — 20-30% jumps vs 3-5% annual raises

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Soft skills beat hard skills — Communication > Code for advancement

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Specialization pays — Depth in one area beats full-stack mediocrity

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Side projects for money, not practice — At 10+ years, portfolio doesn't matter

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Burnout is real and preventable — Rest isn't laziness, it's strategy

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Equity > Salary — One successful startup beats 10 years of grinding

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