I've been in the software industry for a short amount of time compared to some of the veterans out there that are going on 15-20-25 years, but I've come to a point in my career where I'm asking myself what's next? I know some of you can agree with me on this...
My vision of a software dev. is it's a stepping stone to being something more. I don't want to pigeon hole any career path or insult those gifted developers that have been in the business and will be in the business for most of their career, but I really think there are only three major avenues to follow after the software dev gig. Project Management where you're getting away from software, managing timelines, budgets, teams. A software architect/CTO - driving the technology of the company, designing some napkin scribbles and giving this down and saying "implement this... What you can't read my handwriting"? And the contractor/consultant route, which sort of ties into the software architect role, where companies hire you for time and material for your technical expertise. I don't want to get into mISV or building your own company, I think that's partially separated for working for 'the man'.
I question to myself, what if I don't want to follow these paths? All of the above, to be really good, needs an inherent personality trait (which can be partially learned), but one must have an affinity for it. So what if you don't fall in to any of those categories? What if none of those options really appeal to you?
So what's next...?
Personally I don't know - maybe in the next few years I'll figure that out and head down that path.
It's a Friday - maybe one of you have some thoughts on the subject?
There are several other paths, unfortunately, none of them is totally laid out and described like the ones you mentioned. You kinda have to figure it out as you go, try different things and see what happens. For me it has worked out pretty well, stressful but love it :)
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