Summary

A retired software engineer shares two major regrets from his career: taking on excessive pressure and not taking enough risks.

Abstract

In an interview with a retired software developer, the individual, referred to as "Mr. Barry," reflects on his career and shares two significant regrets. The first regret is taking on too much pressure at work, which led to being assigned more tasks and overtime. He advises that while saying no to extra work may lead to being fired, it often results in finding a better job or leaving a toxic work environment. The second regret is not taking enough risks, specifically turning down an offer to work at a startup that later became successful. He emphasizes the importance of taking calculated risks in a rapidly changing world.

Opinions

Taking on excessive pressure at work can lead to being assigned more tasks and overtime, potentially creating a toxic work environment.
Saying no to extra work may result in being fired, but it can also lead to finding a better job or leaving a toxic work environment.
Not taking enough risks, such as turning down an offer to work at a startup, can result in missed opportunities for growth and success.
Taking calculated risks is essential in a rapidly changing world, as not taking risks can lead to missed opportunities and stagnation.
The developer regrets not taking a risky opportunity to work at a startup, which later became successful.
The developer believes that the bigger mistake is not making a mistake, as it prevents one from learning and growing.
The developer advises taking risks and not being afraid of potential failures, as they can lead to valuable learning experiences and growth.

2 Regrets of a 55 Years Old Retired Software Engineer

He worked for a Fortune 500 company and wished somebody had told him this earlier

I have started thinking about my long-term plan and what I want to do in my life. Soon, I will share those with you. But as part of the plan, I decided to make a plan to talk with different kinds of programmers. My main goal is to learn as much as possible from them.

I also decided to write fundamental and unique content for my followers and readers on Medium so that they can also get benefitted from my initiative.

This week I talked with a 55 years old retired software developer who started his career when he was 35. The plan was he would give me 30 minutes, but when we finished our conversation, it was more than 1.5 hours!! I enjoyed our session.

He said he might feel uncomfortable if anyone he knows reads this article. So, I am not disclosing his name. But for the sake of this article, let’s call him “Mr. Barry”.

One of my questions was if he had any regrets about his long job life as a software developer! He gave an excellent long answer. I am summarising it to the main two points. And here are those:

Pressure!!

This is the most important lesson(for me).

He told me he had two friends, John and Romi(of course, fake names), working in the same company. The company was making “SaaS” software. The product was new, and all the employees had to take some extra pressure because they wanted to launch it before Christmas, and the time was insufficient.

So, they had to do some overtime. Now, the main part. Romi used to take more pressure than John. Romi used to do overtime if necessary. But John never did extra work.

Now, when the management needed to do extra work, they asked Romi to do so. Because they knew John would never respond to this type of request, and they couldn’t rely on John.

These incidents happened to him too. He couldn’t say no to them. So, he told me:

The more pressure you take, the more pressure you will get

I also experienced the same thing. But then I asked if developers don’t take the pressure, wouldn't they get fired?

He replied,” That’s true”. But in his experience, those who can say no to “extra pressure”… win in the long run.

I asked how…?

He replied… He saw around 10–20% of these people get fired. They managed to land another job within 2/3 months. Sometimes with a better salary. And most of these developers don’t get fired because they leave the toxic environment before the toxic environment fires them.

Not taking enough risks

Have you ever seen “How I Met Your Mother?”

This is one of my favorite TV shows of all time. I have probably seen it more than ten times. Yeah!! I am that freak of this show! In season 1, episode 21, Lily quoted an emotional dialogue when she was leaving her fiancee for her life-long dream to become an artist.

There are certain things in life where you know it’s a mistake, but you don’t really know it’s a mistake because the only way to know that it really is a mistake is to make that mistake and go, “Yup, that was a mistake”. So really, the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake because then you’ll go about your whole life not knowing whether it was a mistake or not.

Why am I talking about this scene?

When Mr. Barry was talking about his career and life, I could only think and feel this scene.

After 10/12 years working as a developer, he got an offer to work in a startup with the same salary he was getting in his job. But he was a senior developer, and the company had stock options. He thought working in the startup was risky because it could fail.

He was right. Working in a startup is always risky. But after three years, the startup was valued at over $100m.

He regrets it till today because it was a 50–50 decision, and at the last minute, he rejected the offer. He wishes that he had more courage and took the risk.

He now believes… taking “calculated risks” is necessary. Then he quoted Zuckerberg’s one of the most popular ones:

The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.

He gave me this advice so strongly as I am his daughter, and he wanted me to take risky opportunities!! He is a nice man.

We talked about many more topics. About life, work-life balance, and many more. But these two regrets hit me hard, which is why I have shared these two points.

You can also share your story in my mail. Let me know in the comments if you have regrets as a developer.

My last article: Exclusive Interview with the Developer Who Raised $11m to Automate Software Testing

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