Picture this: you’re 30 years into your career as a postman, or horse jockey, or aeronautical engineer, and you just want a change. Maybe the pay isn’t what you want, or your thighs have started to chafe, or space just isn’t what it used to be, you know? Whatever your role or your reasons for wanting to leave, software development is the path you’ve chosen to go down.
And rightfully so. It’s a fulfilling career with great prospects and better pay. Millions of people worldwide have decided to go become software developers, and millions more will continue to do so; it must be an amazing profession. Right?
Truthfully, every job has its good sides and its bad sides, so before you jump headfirst into the role, here are 4 reasons becoming a software developer might not be for you
Imagine finding a job that pays well (really well), has great benefits, and allows you to work from the comfort of your own home. Sounds like the dream, doesn’t it? You’ve got freedom, comfort. Work/life balance. There is just one catch, though.
Monday morning you log onto your laptop and see a note telling you to learn Chapters 3 through 8 of the Ultimate Coder's Guide to Coding Good (Volume 1 of 18). You finish the work day, planning an eight point plan to cram through the information you need in the following week.
The next morning you wake up, feeling refreshed and productive. Ready to go. You log on. There’s another note; learn 8 through 12. Okay, maybe that’s a lot of work, but you can do it. Wednesday comes, and you've got the same problem. Every day you have to add more and more items to your infinitesimal list of things to learn, until the to-do list by your bed has snaked its way into the toilet.
Granted, coding in real life isn’t nearly as overwhelming, and software developers typically enjoy the challenge. But why risk it? It would be much easier for the both of us if you just settled back into your job in the post office, quiet and safe and secure, never to learn anything new ever again.
It’s no surprise that the tech market has boomed in the last couple of years. With the world-wide call to stay inside, there was nowhere to go but online. Ideas were born, apps were launched, and the world saw a change it will never come back from.
To keep up with the new demand for technology, companies found themselves scrambling to find developers to make their customer’s dreams come true. This is where you come in. Being a software developer in 2022 is like being Tobey Maguire at Comic Con; you’re wanted. Sought out. Vyed for.
Exhausting, right?
Having so many opportunities for growth and attention can leave you feeling overwhelmed, stuck. Leave the hoards of fans for the stars and stick to what you know. Like mail.
We’ve all had a moment like this: you’re at the store and you see a limited edition book of Spam recipes that you just have to have. You can picture it on your kitchen shelf, loved and used everyday. Only, you don’t have the money yet. So you wait, and dream, and dust the slim rectangle area in your kitchen.
Then payday rolls around. You go to the shop, pick the book up in your hands, and promptly realise that you don’t, in fact, need yet another novelty recipe book you’ll never use. You go home, feeling proud and accomplished.
On the other hand, if you had the money, you’d have bought the book. Made maybe one of the recipes, then spent the next three years dusting around it until you moved house and threw it into a box, never to be seen again.
Refusing that payrise is the responsible thing to do, is all we’re saying.
You’ve got the job, you’ve navigated the hoards of people vying for your attention, and you’ve negotiated the salary you’ll spend irresponsibly on food-related memorabilia. Now what?
Well, there’s the matter of work-space. Most software developer roles allow at least a small portion of time to be spent working from home, meaning the next hurdle is where to set up. It could be the corner you keep your laundry chair in, or the kitchen table where your partner will never have a peaceful breakfast again, or the sofa in the living room you haven’t decorated since you moved in.
Now you’re realising you hate the colour of the walls, that you’re going to have to buy paint soon, and before you know it you’ve picked apart every interior design issue and not actually got any work done.
Or, since you have all that extra spending money, you could work from a coffee shop. A library. A beach. A waterpark, even, if you really felt the need. With freedom comes choice, and with choice comes the ability to make bad choices; why you’re bringing expensive technology to a waterpark, we’ll never know.
Wouldn’t you rather play it safe, return to the beige office walls and awkward water-cooler chat? You’ll be familiar with it, at least.
When all is said and done, the job you feel drawn to is the job you should strive to get. If you’re happy always growing and having control over the space you do work in, being a software developer might be for you. It’s a lifestyle that allows for creativity, problem solving, and challenging yourself. There will be dull days, because no job is perfect, but the very landscape of technology means there’s always something else to learn, to achieve, to head towards.
And if you want a static life, might I suggest accounting?
