Ben Halpern

Posted on Apr 7, 2022

How has your specialty changed throughout your career?

#discuss #career

We're not all just "programmers" — over time we become web devs, lead devs, SREs, etc.

What's your story?

Top comments (26)

Alex Lohr • Apr 7 '22

Semi-professional musician (guitar, vocals) and songwriter
Part of an assembly demo crew
Voice actor
Martial arts trainer for kids
Furniture mover + part time IT support
Full stack + security + accessibility + UX design + networks + IT support freelancer
Specialized in front-end, employed

Sattwik Sahu • Apr 8 '22

Mr Incredible 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Alex Lohr • Apr 8 '22

Like my grand master used to say: "I'm not better than you, just longer at it."

Heather Williams • Apr 9 '22

Started off editing textbooks, then learnt to edit technical content (maths and science focused) before moving into software development.

In the software development field I have had experience at most aspects since I work for a small company. This means wearing many hats and getting to find what I really care about.

leob • Apr 8 '22

Not! Doing essentially the same thing as in the beginning, only better (I hope).

Jon Randy 🎖️ • Apr 7 '22 • Edited

Developer -> Developer

It's always been my speciality over 26 years. Dabbling a bit in other roles here and there as needs be, but still first and foremost a developer

Jorge Alberto Díaz Orozco (Akiel) • Apr 7 '22

I've being a developer for all my adult life.
This is the only thing I know how to do.

Windows applications developer (Borland Delphi)
Java Developer
Python developer
Linux Developer (Mostly C, C++, Python and bash)
Android Developer
Web developer with Groovy and AngularJS
Software Engineer (A bit of all things but mostly Python, Golang and Docker)
Platform Developer (Golang and Kubernetes)

I get bored easily but I know only one trade

Raí B. Toffoletto • Apr 8 '22 • Edited

Computer teacher for adults/elderly (in early 2000s)

The following were concurrent...

Professional musician (classic and renaissance focused)
Freelancer Web Dev
Music Teacher
Portuguese Teacher
Cleaner
Mover
Chocolate seller
Supermarket cashier
Restaurant staff
Office helper And etc..

Since 2020:
Web developer. (FE and UX focused)

Hoping to continue as dev. 😁

Stuart Jones • Apr 7 '22

Over 20 years

Support engineer for HVAC control hard/software
Some JavaScript-based engineering tools
PHP/MySQL web applications
More PHP/MySQL web applications
Qt/C++
Back to PHP
Back to JavaScript

Joe Mainwaring • Apr 7 '22

I talk about my technology career path in my post How Covid & Cancer Impacted My Career, but to summarize:

2000: Took an apprenticeship role at my local school district when I was a sophomore in High School.
2005: Took a lead role overseeing IT operations for a D1 Collegiate Athletics Program. 15 sports + a half dozen or so supporting departments.
2009: First true FTE role as an IT specialist. Very sysadmin focused.
2011: Started to burn out with IT, began to build engineering skills
2013: Delivered my first iOS app on a contract & took my first engineering role at a FinTech startup.
2014: Started working at HighGround as a mid-level engineer
2016: Promoted to Team Lead of HighGround's mobile product, began to manage both the delivery and the product roadmap.
2018: HighGround gets acquired, I switch from Mobile to Web Engineering with a focus on architecture for the merged product
2020: Promoted to Director of Infrastructure. A lot less coding, and more meetings with vendors and strategic planning.