It never was for most. A small number of people start out after college as a software engineer and they continue until they retire. However, it's always been the case that a large, large number of software engineers start out and do it for 10, 20 years and then move on to management. Several managers I work with say constantly is if you have what it takes to be a great engineer you have what it takes to be a great manager too and there are a lot more opportunities in management because it's not just management other engineers we need people to manage all the other things that we do and engineers have the critical thinking skills needed to do that well.

Lately I’ve found myself taking the “if you can’t beat em, join em” attitude: if I’m not going to have a job in 5 years, I might as well help get there. It’s a strange feeling where it feels like the only way to exert free will is to accelerate my fate. The feeling of inevitable acceleration is difficult to ignore if you’re a software engineer in 2026.

Back to basics.