journal features
movie reviews
photo of the day

advising younger professionals

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Tokyo, 2020.08.16

After a thread on Reddit, someone sent me this query:

Hello. Saw a post you made in r/toronto about the tech scene here. You seemed to have experience and realistic views of what's going and I wanted to reach out for some advice. I'm mid 30s, work in analytics ~150K (CAD).

I've been thinking about making a career jump to SWE, but have a lot of reservations. I currently do scripting and some automation work for my job, it's by far the most enjoyable part of my job. I have okay coding skills but not close to what I'd think a real SWE should have.

I'm hesitant to jump because of my age. Do you think it would be a significant problem for me? Not necessarily today but in 10 years or so... I've worked in AdTech and FinTech and don't see many middle-aged engineers.

You made a great post about salary. Do you think I would take a major hit on salary if I were to switch. I'd be open to moving anywhere but from what I've seen it's mostly FAANG-type companies that would pay an entry level role anything close to what I'm getting, and realistically I don't see how willing any company like that would be to hire a mid 30s 0 official YOE guy.

Anyway... be harsh, be realistic, let me know what you think.

First, I had to decipher "mid 30s 0 official YOE guy"; I decided that (s)he meant they'd be in the mid thirties with no years of experience (as a software engineer). Here's what I said in response.

Make a life plan, work out what you want to get out of life, and use your career/salary to get that. It's really that simple. But: depending on your area of expertise I would look at data science, AI, or other applied science and/or math fields. I've noticed that the MBA is no longer a ticket to anywhere, and definitely think that data sciences have legs. Learn everything practical about languages like Python and R if you haven't already.

But don't go into coding. Be the analyst/scientist who can do his own coding. At $150k I'm assuming that's a contract? If you have the option of renewing I would definitely push it as far as you can. Toronto will not be a bad place as long as you're earning.

You don't say what kind of analytics you're in, but you won't touch that salary in Canada as a software engineer. Additionally, at 30 you're already only five years away from the age where in Canada you'd start to see things becoming more difficult in that field. The basic problem as far as I can tell is that employers will accept engineers with okay coding skills, poor people skills, poor English, and poor work habits. This happens because in non-technology fields they don't know or care about good coders.

So that leaves the tech companies, preferably outside Canada. Yes, you can find the high-paying salaries in Seattle and Silicon Valley. But there some maybe non-obvious trade-offs to consider: do you enjoy those parts of the US? Would you enjoy them if there was a curfew and/or police checkpoints and so on? Or growing homelessness and crime? We don't know where the US is heading, but I've worked in those conditions (in Manila) and found it quite stressful. Also, I think the tech giants are starting to think about life outside the US. I'm not sure they're going to stay strong employers in the US.

Whatever you choose to do, expect your salary to be variable. We're heading into a period of time known as a fourth turning, it will be rough for quite a while before it becomes better. Be ready to move to wherever there are jobs and stability. I know people who left Tokyo for HK who now have to have a hard look at their situation. My wife and I had kids in part because no one else in my generation in my family was going to. But it's like a vow of poverty. So think about that in terms of a life plan.

Good luck. Hope this helped in any way.

rand()m quote

There are two kinds of people in this world: Those that enter a room and turn the television set on, and those that enter a room and turn the television set off.

—-"Raymond Shaw", The Manchurian Candidate