1. The critical part of the software that no one educates a youngster about is that, unlike other fields(like sales and marketing), the software is project-based. Some projects are so good that they have a large adaptation and lifespan exceeds two decades(like WordPress, Drupal, GitHub, Arduino, Visual Studio, Word, Apache, etc.).
2. Every software project has the following components:-
a) Engine(a code that runs at the core of the software)
b) Middle layer(a business logic that utilizes the core and data to implement the actual usability)
c) Presentation layer(the front-end with which user interact with the software)
d) The API layer(essentially builds an end-point for other applications to interact with the software{core, middle layer} exchanging data.
e) Top-ups(Plugins/Add-ons):- Software is good if other usability software can be developed.
f) Other layers are the security layer, data layer, parallelization layer, processing layer, and so on.
3. Less than 1% of the technologists around the globe are capable of writing an engine(essentially algorithms that codifies a real-world scenario into the software).
4. Because good software has a lifespan of a career, most core developers who create a project remain with it for the rest of their lives.
5. Often, an engineer who writes the business logic or core engine is a polymath with multidomain knowledge and significant social understanding.
6. Most modern software hiring(especially through the HRs) are often for maintenance of the software and particularly upper layers. The other job type is using the tools to customize a business’s needs.
7. Even a class X student can use a tool. You don’t need engineering to use a screwdriver and open a computer.
8. Making an engine, tool, or platform is hard; a developer becomes an industry star as that system grows. Often after ten years of lifespan, if a million lives depend upon the project, the superstar becomes CEO or drives a tech unit(like Nadela). By then, the star had worked on all the layers.
9. Yes, you don’t become a “full stack developer” by doing a course, but after writing codes in each layer of software used by a million users
10. HRs think compiling Nodejs, writing select* from, and making a form is full stack development) “Yatha buddhi tataha Vichar.”
11. You are irreplaceable if you have been part of at least one major version release through two-point subversion updates. So, 0.0.1 to 1.0.0.
12. If your company releases one minor version every three days, then it is a good company. For ex: Razorpay’s last Android update was six months back. So Razorpay is a bad company to work in Android.
13. A technologist, not a manager or HRs, lead a team. If you are under an HR, your HR and you are at risk.
14. So, as you continue to switch, you will be perceived as working in irrelevant modules. If no one is dependent on a sw dev, you will always be on the edge of the Axe.
Table of Contents
Why Job Hopping Will Work Against You in Present Job Market?
We live in a time when dire idiots become advisors and destroy careers. The word “Job” refers to those who can do repetitive work without question. The job was a relevant term in the 70s and 80s, but not after the automation age. If you are in a job, you will be replaced by automation.
Unlike other fields, software or any technology is a creative expression of some brilliant minds. In software, a top team recruits itself, manages itself, and manages the repo/software. Unlike other fields, people often buy or use software based on the star and the team(irrespective of the brand). It is an extremely trust-based micro-environment that drives a large economy.
So, if you are being traded in the job market, you are just a software maintainer, painter, or lego block connector.
Aspire to build a billion-dollar project and run that for decades, as a large part of the industry depends on your shoulder. It is this accountability that gives you the drive after you cross 30. You don’t get up thinking how much I make but how many lives I better.
There are no “full-stack Kiran”; only Woz and Nads are in this industry. If you appear before a dumb HR for sw interview, your career is already stagnant.
Health and Stress Issues of the Software Professionals
Here is a task for all top software companies. Find out all the devs who have stayed in the company from version 0.0.1 to v5.0.0, and you will know why the Indian software industry has been a sham.
Also, a software developer is selected from the GitHub/Stackoverflow/Codeproject profile, not through campus placement. This country has misled unsuspecting parents by opening a bunch of engineering colleges and making the most incompetent the HOD of those colleges.
In a maintenance project, a company charges clients $ and pays the engineer Rs. So a 3.5L monthly salary is when your company can charge for at least $12k-$20k to clients based on man hour. Here you are traded.
That is precisely why most feel like doing MBA after three years, for an easy job, because there was no role in the first place. And after 2 Years and 20L of MBA, too, you will remain irrelevant. This is because, unlike other fields, the top engine team closes the sale in software, which you failed to be part of. So you will remain just a client relationship or project delivery manager.
Everyone after 40 will suffer from depression, hairless, metabolic syndrome, and fatigue here. Be smart, don’t become a crypto token of failed HRs.
