I'll try not to bore you guys. I've worked in various roles over my 14 YOE. From developer to prod support to solutions architecture to Enterprise architecture. I've very minimal time left for doing any hands on coding or my job doesn't allow me to do that much or may be I'm making up reasons. Most likely the last one. Now when I'm trying to move a new company almost in all the interviews I'm staring at a blanket question of "How hands on are you in the recent days?". Even though I'm open to getting back to the hands on game once after getting a new job, no one is willing to trust me on that. Anyways, if any of you are facing the same situation let me know how you're tackling this. TC: 200K
Try doing some hands on projects on AWS/GCP at work or on your own. Block calendar and don’t compromise. Delegate at work, your team members will like doing things that normally you did and they might have aspirations for. I am in Product role, 14 yoe, and had similar situation where I was not hands on with tech work, so I started scheduling time with my engineers to learn behind the scene stuff of my product and could grasp quickly as a result I started doing lots of data extract and analysis on my own which I can now mention as hands on experience. Hope, this helps. Good luck!
That's good suggestion. Thank you
What are you looking for? A SWE role, mgmt role, etc? A running joke amongst engineering managers is that architects don’t know how to code. But that’s also bc frankly they’re lower level and just left line coding. Decide where you want to go - up or down. Mgmt pays REALLY well, but it’s harder to stay remote and solely measure yourself on sprints.
Interestingly I'm searching for cloud solutions architecture roles. Even though it's realistic to expect the candidate to have willingness to do hands-on work or did coding in the past so that he/she can understand code, the expectations now a days are that even for sol arch roles you need to be rockstar developer. That's where the challenge is.
True!
To add to above - a lot of POC integrations can be duct taped together via StackOverflow
Thank you
Rockster, I am in the same boat. I have solid technical knowdlege but I am not young in terms of developing or being hands on anymore. There are better people than me who are good at that. So, what I found was I bring in my experience and knowledge and planning to the projects. I also know over years, I need to convince people as stakeholder to get shit done. Being a jerk won’t get you anywhere. So, I am looking for technical product lead roles. Some require coding and being hands on but senior technical leads at large companies require you to provide guidance and architecture review. This may help you too. Good luck and stay positive. Remember , when it comes to job search , you can get 1000 no but all that matters is one Yes.
You have to be the guy who alleviates the anxiety of the non technical folks. Your sales pitch has to be that of the technical trusted advisor to all sides, who can get stuff done and who’s brilliant towards the customer.
Almost a year from then.. how is it going?
Fake it till u make it
Ha ha .. that's the problem I don't want to fake it and when I'm being honest no one cares. Irony of honesty