Advice on how to get ahead in Software career

Hi Guys,
I hope you can advise, I have been working in my area now for 5 years. I am a very good engineer.

I basically was asked to work with the team I am with for a month because things were chaotic. I am a very quick learner and the manager I am working for has been reluctant to move me back to my original team since I was aked to help them.

Technially over the years I have re - architected the area we work in, to our benifit and to the benifit of customers.

All sounds fab! However over the 5 years, I have noticed the 3 guys that I work with have been given more responcibility and recognition. Despite the fact that it is my work and ideas they are promoting. The scenario is as follows:

(note we are curretly re working the whole area we work in)
a) I notify the guys that a particular area needs to be updated. I tell him what managers are involved to meet with.
b) I email/document the problems and the proposed solution.
c) I foolishly expect to be invited to a meeting (given that I would be the technical expert in the area), I am not invited/involved in any of the meetings/decisions.
d) I find out by chance the outcome of the meeting. (In that I am not directly told or included in any update)...

So how do I help myself to get out of this situation, and start carving a proper career for myself...

Cheers,
P

Pinkybear Im a bit confused - are you talking about your original team who are being given more responsibility or your new team?

From what you are laying out above - stop doing (a) and (b), and instead call the meeting (c) yourself and outline verbally what the issue is and proposed solutions.

Just a few more questions though - is 5 years your total time and experience as a software engineer? Do you have experience from a previous job also? What about the other guys - what are their experience levels like?

Is working with the new team a step up or down or same?

What do you mean by the other guys being given more recognition?
Are all your salaries similar?
Are all your titles the same?

Do the other guys do things that you dont do at all?

Hi there,
Cheers for the responce, I have been working with the team I am on for 5 years, I am a "borrowed" resource from another team. The colleagues on my team are the ones that are getting the recognition and responcibility.
In terms of calling particular meetings - I was told that my colleagues are now handling all external interaction, and my main focus will be development. So if there is something important that I spot needs to be done, I cannot just set up the meeting, I need to follow a particular process. To be honest, going outside of this process will only land me into trouble, it has happened in the past and I get repreimanded for it...

In terms of what recognition the guys get, two of the guys are doing management type roles, and 1 of the guys is the contact point for customers. So yes they would do different work than I am doing, my work is all technical. However because I am the technical one, it is usually me that spots issues, and I now have to inform the guys of the risk/problem/solution. Previosuly development and customer interaction would have been done by all of us.

In terms of titles and pay, we are all Senior Engineers, pay would be different - but the reality is we all have different level of experience. I would be the most junior, the reality is the company I work with is fair.

I suppose my question really should be, how can/or does a Software Engineer get ahead in a job. I thought by being an expert in a specific domain was the way to go!

PinkyBear,

Many Irish software companies and multinational IT departments do not provide a technical career path for their IT people and expect them to develop into a Project Manager role where they manage projects and customer interaction/expectations etc. This may or may not be the case for you but you need to find out.

In my opinion you should request a meeting with your manager and/or HR and ask for the development options open to you within the company. If one of these suits you then you need to regularly communicate your interest, identify what is required for you to be considered for that position and work to that goal.

As for your colleagues benefiting from your discoveries and solutions; you should continue this good work and if the process within your organisation is to provide technical solutions to your colleagues then so be it. This is a common situation. However, be suer to copy your manager on all significant work that you do, issues that you resolve and solutions that you present to your colleagues. Also be sure to document these for year-end, mid-year etc reviews.

Above all don't get all negative with your colleagues, feeling that they are benefiting from your work. The majority of organisations not only encourage but demand team work from their employees and you should continue to contribute in a positive manner....just make sure the powers that be know about your contributions.

Keep positive, work hard and you will definitely be on the right track.

Good Luck.

Ah - now Ive got a better picture of it.

OK - basically sounds like you will move along when your experience levels come up more - 5 years is not long in terms of experience (in that team). And if youre the most junior then it would seem that you are being treated how they treat their more junior staff. You actually have a different role to the others.

It could be time for you to move along, sometimes if moving up the ladder is slow its of more benefit to move along and gain more experience elsewhere.

Just on your last point - its expertise, experience, ability to deal with staff, customers, clients, bring projects in on time etc..... Theres loads of different skills needed - not just the techie ones - at least thats how it is where I am anyway.

Hi Guys,
Many thanks for your replies. you both have helped ease my frustrations! Its hard work moving up the Software Ladder!!!
I'll take on board your suggestions... I think ultimatly I need to stop being a "borrowed" technical resource.

P...

Is it possible you're not as good as you think you are?

I know that's a very blunt, harsh-sounding question, but we all think we're great because we're great at deluding ourselves.

I'm sure you are as good as you say you are, but definitely it would be worth doing some honest analysis of yourself to be 100% you are as good as you think you are.

No offence!

In my personal experience, getting promoted is more about who you know, office politics and making sure the boss can see your achievements (no matter how small)... rather than any sort of competence.

Hi PinkyBear
I can understand where you see the frustration. I think the larger the entity you are working for, the more you will be pigeon-holed into the "tecchie" role with no opportunity to develop broader skills that would enable a move into more management roles.
One way therefore would be to seek a role with a smaller software development company where you would be expected to contribute much more than just technically have input into the brader opportunities for the business and basically intract in a more flexible work setting.
It might sound like a pipe-dream, but there are lots of such companies around and even in today's environment many of them are still hiring.

Just something to consider

Hi there UFC, I know what you mean when you question "am I as good as I say I am"! I am no genious, I never pretended to be however when I joined the team 5 years ago it was a mess (product and team was going about 5 years before I joined), as was the product. I started bringing in new proceedures to make things better, I have since then re engineered the system to make it better for us and our customers.

This was not because I was a guru, but I became the only person who had any knowlegde of the technical side, because I was the only person who would debug code, or investigate issues, plus I questioned why things were being done the way they were.

I was asked to help the team for a few months, and well I am still here! AmGD you are correct, I feel frustrated because I am pigeoned holed and am finding it very hard to move off the team.. I have been trying for years!! However I have dug a pit for myself, because I am creative and technical my overall manager is reluctant to move me off the team and on to another...

What I do is not rocket science, however my colleagues who are developers have little interest in looking into or learning about anything. This is my humble opinion of what is going on, I am very hard working (if I say so myself!), problems would come in, and before even being asked to look at it I would investigate the issue (in the background) the other guys would be given the issue to resolve, they would ask me what do I think the problem is and I would be able to answer.

Pinkybear - could your ability and love of problem solving be holding you back?

Im a software engineer also and my favourite parts of the job are the problem solving aspects - and Im good at it, because Im like a dog with a bone trying to find the answer.

Im just wondering if youre too valuable in your current role because youre too good at the problem solving aspect of what you do?

PinkyBear,
If you've been submitting your suggestions in writing, maybe you should look at what you're putting down on paper - you might have rushed your posts, but there are a good few spelling errors that seem to be more than typos..

benifit
repreimanded
responcibility
responce
Previosuly
ultimatly

You might look at how you're portraying yourself in written communications, as it can portray an image of your abilities (rightly or wrongly).