Why Some Engineers Become Rockstars After 5 Years and Some Stay the Same After 10

In my 13 years in this industry, I have met excellent Engineers who despite their profound Engineering capacity have been in the industry for a shorter time period than you would expect. I have also met many who have been in the industry for a protracted time, yet can not do many of the things you would expect of someone of their caliber. In the beginning, this used to be a surprising phenomenon, but after spending years with both classes of Engineers, I have seen what separates them.

Engineers who go on to become rockstars in relatively short period, approach their career with a huge goal in mind and a long-term view, to acquire very broad expertise in the profession. One consequence of this — they invest their learning time in cornerstone, mainstay, and standardized technologies that pay remarkable dividends in the long-term. Because of this approach, their Engineering capacity compounds profoundly over time.

For engineers who stay almost the same after 10 years, they are often the types chasing every new shiny technology without asking if it pays them in the long term. Not to totally condemn this practice, but these are the ones who would rather learn the newest javascript framework on the web, than master key technologies like operating system, security, system architecture, and more.

When you have one category of Engineers who invest their time in cornerstone, mainstay, and standardized technologies, over a period of 5 years, it is not so surprising to see them morph into the rockstars they are. And when you have another category who can not think long term, you end up with a group who have spent so much time in the industry, yet have little to show for it.

This short piece, while I understand that it paints a category of developers in poor light, is not meant to put them down. This is more of an observation that has stuck with me for a couple of years and had to be shared. For anyone in the later category described above, you can only correct your mistakes when you are aware of them: that is what I hope this article achieves.