What is a good next career step after being a software engineer for?
At this point, youre probably looking for Senior Engineer, which happens at 5 years, give or take. I know some companies hand out titles like candy, but think Microsoft, Amazon, etc. definition of a Senior. After that, theres a few different tracks to take. Principal track This is fairly common for people to work towards, and make no mistake, this is a very intensive track that will take a lot of time. Again, ignoring the places that just hand out titles. Its not uncommon for an engineer to never reach this position in their career (which Ill get to), but for those passionate about being technologists, its a great path to head down. Management track Some developers find themselves more passionate about leading people than the purely technical aspects of work. There is a lot of technical input and coaching involved in dev management of course, but often, your hands will be off of the actual implementation. Between the Principal and Management track, usually equivalents look something like Dev Manager to high level Senior engineer, Dev Director to Principal Engineer, VP of Development to Distinguished Engineer. Again, titles are different depending on the place. Product/Project track This is a lot less common, but many times a developer finds themselves more passionate about how the product or inter-team project progresses. Its very common for a technical product or project manager to have a development background. Having the ability to write API requirements, understand architectural or coding abilities and challenges of different codebases at your company, etc. are extremely valuable in this role, and some people find that bigger picture more enjoyable. In some ways, you can thing of dev management and technical project management as different sides of the same coin. Both are involved in bigger picture technical questions, but TPM roles generally dont involve people management (until PM management levels, if desired). Terminal track Some people reach senior engineer and are simply happy with that role. They are very valued team members who can help others, can be trusted to lead feature development, and are generally great assets to a team. If, for whatever reason, you have no interest in people management, and you dont want the deep technical responsibilities that come with a principal role, a career as a senior developer is generally not frowned upon. Again, accepting that most engineers do not make principal (due to ability, desire, motivation, whatever), and most engineers do not go down the management track, whats left is a senior role. Best next step at 34 years? Dont rush anything. Work into a senior role and start exploring what you like. Maybe thats leading a project, mentoring junior engineers, etc. to see how you like the people side. Maybe thats taking on a little more advanced technical work, or working on architectural pieces, etc. See what things you enjoy most, and lean a little into those directions to see if thats really a career path for you. If not, pull back and add value as a senior engineer a while longer and lean in another direction. Senior developers are extremely desirable and well-compensated, so theres certainly no rush to leave that position.