Senior Devs Pushed Into Work That Ignores Their Stack
Seasoned developers across various tech stacks and roles are experiencing a disconnect between their expertise and current work. This manifests as feeling underutilized, shifted to less desirable tasks, questioning skill relevance, or struggling to find fulfilling roles that leverage their experience. The core pain is a lack of alignment between their skills and their current responsibilities.
SOURCES (60)
“This too. Idk what any of these titles mean anymore. What op is looking for is an endpoint engineer with experience in group policy, Intune, entra conditional access, defender or similar 3rd party products.”
“So i’m a senior software engineer with almost 9 years of experience, mostly backend stuff, a lot of AWS, serverless, Node.js and JavaScript in general. Lately i’ve been watching how fast everyone is adopting AI and honestly it’s making me less interested in this field, or at least less sure about where it’s going, and i don’t want to just sit around waiting to see if i end up on a layoff list. What i really want is a backup plan, something i can lean on if things go sideways, and ideally a path”
“So i’m a senior software engineer with almost 9 years of experience, mostly backend stuff, a lot of AWS, serverless, Node.js and JavaScript in general. Lately i’ve been watching how fast everyone is adopting AI and honestly it’s making me less interested in this field, or at least less sure about where it’s going, and i don’t want to just sit around waiting to see if i end up on a layoff list. What i really want is a backup plan, something i can lean on if things go sideways, and ideally a path”
“I realize there's no getting around using LLMs at least some of the time but I really don't want to just prompt AI all day long. I've been seeing occasional ads for WebGL focused devs and wondering if I should make a go for self-educating more deeply in that as it seems to be a bigger draw at ad and interactive agencies where you tend to have some more freedom in how you work. I have some Three.js experience. Just looking for tips on what really matters and what to target for buildin”
Posting on an alt as my main account has personally identifying information and the company is small enough that I could be found. Was going to post on cscareerquestions, but that had…
“TL;DR: 29M, Hyderabad, CSE grad. 3 years in Product Management + ~3 years in Application Security. Laid off ~3 months ago from my most recent PM role. I get into real flow building with AI/agentic tooling and have shipped side projects, but I'm rusty on DSA and don't have a classic SWE title. Pivoting toward FDE / Solutions Engineer / implementation-heavy technical roles. Is 24 LPA fixed realistic? What should I prep? Which structured courses are actually worth it? --- Background - Educa”
“Graduated with an IT degree and spent a good chunk of time building full stack skills (React, Node, the usual stack). Figured that alone would land me a job, but the market’s brutal right now. “Entry level” postings want 3-5 years experience, AI tools are eating a lot of junior dev work, and I’m getting buried under hundreds of applicants per posting. Starting to think pure full stack dev isn’t the safe bet it used to be, at least not for breaking in right now. For those who’ve been through this”
“For those who have been in software development for 10-15 years and beyond, what do you think about your career prospects in this field in the long run? Do you see yourself staying in the field long term, or do you see yourself pivoting to a different career? If you plan to stay, what keeps you motivated and excited about continuing your job in the field? Do you strive for specific titles/seniority, is it a bigger paycheck, or something completely different that keeps you going and excited? I”
“I'm a software dev on a small team at a non-tech company. We maintain a very standard vanilla CRUD app. We were all brought on as full stack devs, but over time some of my coworkers have isolated themselves to strictly frontend work, or strictly backend work, etc. I understand this is somewhat normal, since people may have a talent for or more experience in an area. But I'd think that over time you'd want to build up experience in other areas too. I'm not saying we need to become”
“Full-stack developer of 5 years here. I’ve been job searching for the past 3 months with no luck. I’m looking for other full-stack roles but honestly, the competition is insane and companies are being insanely picky with candidates. So this has me wondering: what roles are actually being hired for where interviewing doesn’t feel like a Herculean task? ML engineers? AI engineers? FDEs? I’m just trying to get a scope of the landscape. submitted by /u/SomberDreamer [link] [comment”
“After being in the industry a few years or close to retirement, would you still choose this career as your first option? What would you have wished someone would have warned you about? In my case, after being a software dev nearly a decade, I wish someone would have warned me how many hours I would spend outside of work learning new technical skills. The skills treadmill is intense. I also wish someone would have told me the importance of setting my boundaries in the company and my team because”
“Sadly fullstack is becoming the new default. Pure frontend positions still exist but they are rare and instantly flooded with hundreds of applications. I've been trying to get one for the past 2 months but in the meantime I am relearning Java and Spring.”
“Hi guys, I’m looking for some outside input into my career. I started about 7 years ago as ‘data person’, for a company that has a SaaS application. Over the years I’ve grown and have more of a focus on data engineering. From the start of this year I’ve switched to a function combing data engineering and infrastructure engineering (Azure). I want to become a Data Architect, but I’m not sure what I should focus on to really have enough knowledge (deep and wide) to call myself Architect. I did a s”
“I got my start in the late 2000s, with agency work on PHP apps which are known for low pay and little knowledge work beyond a web-master position. Also worked on Ruby apps and I think Ruby peaked around 15 years ago. Among other things, I took multiple staff augmentation roles as a temp worker. They were not meant for anything else so my job history is just full of lateral moves doing similar task-level work. No increase in responsibility or job complexity. After years of spinning my wheels in t”
“TL;DR: My DS/analytics role has expanded into senior-level data/platform engineering and client leadership, but my title, pay, and promotion path haven’t kept up. I’ve been in data science/analytics for about 11 years. Most of my earlier career was at a Fortune 100 financial company, where I eventually became a Data Science Manager and led a small team forecasting risk metrics that fed into public earnings reporting. I’m now a Big Data Analytics Manager at a fintech/fraud prevention company, wor”
“Due to ... The landscape of things, I would like to transition from focus on front-end to a more full stack role. Or perhaps backend. Honestly anything that isn't pure front-end is good 😅 In my last job, my official title was "Senior Software Developer", and I did a lot more than just front-end in this role. In fact, I ended up the whole "does less code, and more planning, coordination, design solutions, etc" conundrum that I think a lot of seniors experience? Helped wit”
“A long story against brain rot and Shorts I'm a Python Developer and Web Scraping Engineer. I've got around 5 years of experience, and I've made a few career mistakes that honestly pissed me off enough to write this. So here's my story. Hopefully someone learns from my mistakes and doesn't repeat the same shit. My beginning was as a freelancer in underground communities. What does that mean? Basically, I was doing Web Scraping, but in some pretty shady ways. Someone had a lea”
“Hi Everyone, Venting post, but I have been working with Salesforce as one of my primary platforms for 13 years. Does anyone else feel like the last couple of years every release from Salesforce is bad news? I remember reading the release notes excitedly looking at what new features were coming out, or what new things we could do with less customization. We often would be able to go to our business users and present new solutions or tools and have a collaborative and positive experience. Lately,”
“I’m at a point in my career where I honestly don’t know what direction to take next, so I’m hoping to hear from people who’ve gone through something similar. I have almost 10 years of game development experience, mainly with Unity, across mobile, AR/VR, multiplayer, etc. Before my last full-time job, I was freelancing and was able to make a living from it. Then I joined a US startup and spent around 4 years there, including working with some really talented engineers from Unity Technologies. Unf”
“I’m looking for some objective perspectives on a career decision. I’ve recently left a large multinational financial-services company after ~8 years in a senior specialist middle office role. I accepted a senior role at a large, well-known tech company in London: £140k base 50–100% discretionary bonus Strong company/name and career exposure However, since accepting, a few things have made me question it: They reduced the compensation after I had already signed the contract, which damaged my trus”
“I was recently reached out to by an SF recruiter about a Solution Architect role in SF migrations. It looks like the job category is Customer Success on the posting but from what I was told, the job is more on the Professional Services side of things. I’m a bit hesitant on this as I’ve recently heard bad things about the customer success org. Does anyone have any insights on this role or org? submitted by /u/ProductiveVeggie [link] [comments]”
“I need some help deciding on my next step. I have been a backend engineer for 5 years now for a retail company and I’m not sure what to do next. I have no niche or area of expertise. Does anyone have any advice on my next move to increase my pay and find something somewhat secure? Do I work to find a FAANG job, go back to school? I thought about going to the financial sector but what area would be exciting. Obviously I don’t think quant is possible since I didn’t got to a top tier school.”
“I've been building software since the 1990s. Full-stack development, database architecture, managing production systems, shipping actual products. I've seen tech stacks, hiring bubbles, and market crashes come and go. I was laid off in January, and eight months later, I'm still looking. I knew the market had shifted, but the reality on the ground is wild. Hundreds of applications sent. Tailored CVs. A few initial recruiter screens, but mostly ghosting, automated rejections within min”
“I am a Salesforce dev with around 4yrs of experience. I got an interview link for a Salesforce engineer in google cloud recently and cleared the online assessment. I do have major confusion about how the interview process would be, it would be majorly on our Salesforce questions, sf system design and integrations and Problem solving in apex. Else it would be having the regular structure of an interview in google like normal dsa and system design round for a full stack development and after that”
“Hey i am writing this post for applying for jobs. Looking for referrals as well. About me: 5+ years, all of it on a Salesforce ISV product rather than consulting. Tech lead for 8 engineers. Experience: - Managed package work: 2GP, packaging, upgrade safety, the whole subscriber-org side of things - Built a customer-facing client API over our quoting grid, plus public REST endpoints on a composite-request engine - CPQ domain: pricing engines, rate cards, multi-year cost-of-living escalation,appro”
“The startup seems pretty chill, with good seniors and a hybrid setup. The work environment is comfortable, and I’m getting good exposure. However, I feel like I’m getting a little too comfortable, especially since AI is handling a lot of the actual coding/work. The role is mainly frontend, but they also expect me to contribute to the backend. Since I’m a 2026 graduate, I’m wondering if I should take advantage of this opportunity and build broader skills, or keep looking for a role at a bigger te”
“Hi all, I have 11 yeo, mostly on the frontend. I am starting to look for a switch and curious on how the market has changed. Do non-faang companies still use Leetcode style questions? Any suggestions on website I should use to prepare? I am currently going thru some of the materials on hellointerview (not affiliated). Curious to know how best to prepare. Thank you! submitted by /u/prove_it_with_math [link] [comments]”
“The safest bet is probably not a niche so much as targeting companies that were built distributed, because big corporate hybrid mandates are eating everything like fog. For data, analytics engineering plus dbt, cloud warehouse, orchestration, and governance seems to travel better than BA/project delivery since the output is easier to judge asynchronously. Data engineering can work too, but I would look for product/SaaS companies with teams across time zones, not local employers offering remote u”
“I have ~2 YOE mostly in iOS/mobile, but my recent work which is 30% of total exp. has become pretty traditional full stack, stripe and AI agents. I’ve had a weirdly decent interview history in iOS, including multiple Apple rounds and onsites, but I keep getting close and not converting. Now when I search for mobile/iOS jobs the market just feels tiny and very senior heavy. Problem is I’m much stronger technically in Swift/iOS. I can talk comfortably about the full stack systems I built, but I’m”
“Hello, community! I’m an ETL developer specializing in Ab Initio, and for the last 10 years, I’ve been working for a bank in Mexico. I thought my position was “secure” because of all the legacy systems they had in place. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. When I started looking for other positions, I realized that I wasn’t familiar with many of the technologies employers were asking for. If anyone out there has faced a similar problem or concern, maybe this book I wrote could be useful to you.”
It sounds like OP is already in the broader tech space, just not bigtech.
“2.5 Years of Experience, BBA + soon MBA, underpaid at a nonprofit — torn between tech and "stable" business roles. What's my next move? Quick background: I've got about 2.5 years of experience and currently work at a nonprofit. I have my BBA, and I'm finishing up my MBA soon. I know I'm underpaid where I am now, and I'm ready for a change, but I'm stuck on direction. Two paths I keep going back and forth on: Tech — I'm good with numbers and troubleshooting,”
“I've had no professional responsibilities in Salesforce for about a year after being my previous company's only dev/admin. How has basic flow building and day-to-day admin work changed since summer '25? I feel like flows were ripe for prompt based development, but I haven't had the time to keep up. Thanks! submitted by /u/cheeseknife12345 [link] [comments]”
“Also our company has been around for 50 years with long term steady growth so it's nothing shortsighted here And the company I work for has literally been around for over 100 years. Yet due to bad leadership and short-sighted, uninformed decision making, they are struggling and there have been a lot of layoffs. And I've survived each one over the better part of a decade 🤷 go cry somewhere else Your immaturity is showing. You don't have the developed wisdom to be giving others advice”
“I'm backend laravel and tired looking for a job i graduated 1 year ago so I'm wondering if i can find better opportunities as a salesforce developer (remote because I'm from egypt ) so i need an advice submitted by /u/PauloMayCan [link] [comments]”
“I have 7+ years of experience. My CV was still scoring \~50 on ATS. I finally figured out why. I’m a Senior Product Designer with 7+ years of experience. I’m also a web developer and game developer, and I’ve built personal products that have been online for years. I applied heavily, but kept getting rejection after rejection. Last night, I stopped guessing and researched the ATS systems companies actually use. I tested my CV against systems including Workday and Taleo. The biggest lesson: Having”
“I worked as a fullstack developer, but after the company went bankrupt and I lost my job, I’ve been looking for work for over 6 months now. I’m starting to consider changing my career direction and looking at positions in analytics, technical support, or ai related roles. I’d really appreciate some advice from people with experience. Do you think it would be more effective to switch to a different field, or should I keep pushing for a development role until I find one? Thanks submitted by”
“Honestly I think backend is more susceptible to AI takeover, not frontend. Frontend has to coordinate with UI/UX, company conventions, and lots of human elements. Backend isn't seen and just has to work. Wiring up frontend, obviously replaceable but that just means less juniors - still need leadership and design decisions that AI can't do. Scaffolding backend and infra... AI can definitely do. I would not fret about fe vs be, and just pick the job on other merits. Personally, WLB.”
“I’m 33 and have around 10 years of experience as an iOS developer in Canada, but I feel stuck and honestly don’t know what to do next? I’m trying to find a job in Canada, but the market has been difficult. At the same time, I’ve started to lose interest in iOS development and I’m not really sure what direction to take anymore. I’ve thought about learning React Native, Flutter, or moving into backend development. I’ve also considered things like cloud, business analysis, or tech sales, especially”
“sounds like a nice problem to have honestly, two offers on the table if you stay in frontend, AI is gonna eat a lot of the glue work you described (api integration, basic state stuff) and that's exactly what you're doing now. diving deeper into the custom infra side with company A gives you a moat, at least for a while. nobody's gonna prompt an AI to debug your in-house fetch library company B seems riskier but maybe more fun. fullstack consulting means you'll touch everything bu”
“Currently almost a 4 YOE frontend engineer based in SEA, been working at a fast paced startup for the past 4 years. My current job: Day to day frontend tasks are mostly trivial but time consuming work - usual stuffs like API integration, integrating UI components, state management etc. We don't have complex frontend technologies - i.e. custom bundling patterns, microfrontends etc. Simple NextJS with api routes as the BFF layer. Sometimes we do get features that are non trivial - Custom Tipta”
“When every single opening gets 100s of applications who is going to look at a GitHub profile these days? Besides I am not even a front end developer - at all - and I’ve done beautiful front end work with good UX using v0. It was only for internal admin sites meant to be used by at most a dozen people or demos. But either way, beautiful front end portfolio work is low signal post gen ai”
“We don’t use cloud at work. So if I do a side project that fully leverages AWS, that’s not relevant? You’d rather see me get a certification and have no practical experience with it? I feel like certs are worthless. I learn nothing at work and am trying desperately to get out of my CRUD job. Idk what else to do at this point.”
“I mean I did follow up with it being important for having a pulse on the project and what's moving. I probably phrased that poorly. I just meant it's important in the same sense as a daily standup.”
“I'm not talking about effective software engineering because the OP wasn't fired because of it, not because it isn't important.”
“I’m 33 and have around 10 years of experience as an iOS developer in Canada, but I feel like I’m stuck in a loop and honestly don’t know what to do anymore. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to get a job, and after years of doing iOS development, I’ve also lost a lot of interest in coding. It feels like I’m at a point where I need to make a change, but I don’t know which direction makes sense. I’ve considered React Native, Flutter, backend, cloud, business analysis, and even tech sales. I’m”
“The second one just comes down to ownership. You don't really get to say "shit is convoluted therefore I've been slowed down". People used to maintain large JS codebases without any types (or proper frameworks, for that matter) throughout the aughts, ts-ignore-error's are not a thing management wants to hear you harp on about. They want to know what is done on time, what is not and what you're doing about the latter. Part of it absolutely is about being present in meeti”
“All existing codebases suck. The older, the worse. You just won't find a "good" codebase out there. It happens for a lot of reasons. Learn to work with it, not blame it.”
“Thats how it is. Depends on role company timing. We interviewed a guy who can def learn whats needed and is plenty technical. But he would need few weeks to get accustomed to angular over react but the project deadline is end of quarter so the pick will be someone who can come on right away with angular know how and get to it without the ramp up. If u join company over summer its prob slower season and taking few weeks to adjust to ask is feasible. It really depends but the interviewer sounds li”
“There was a window of time when it was possible to get a job just by learning what they teach in The Odin Project or an equivalent bootcamp. That wasn't the case for decades before, and it isn't true now anymore. Software development in general is still a great career - it's not dead - but the bar is high, just like other well-paying competitive fields like medicine or law. If you want a career in the field, get a CS degree and practice a lot. There's no secret, it just takes ded”
“Seems the tech industry is in a huge downturn in general but especially web dev and people don't think it will ever recover? Would it be better learning python or another course? submitted by /u/alex123711 [link] [comments]”
“I've spent the last 5-6 years as a full-stack developer in regular employment. I'm now going independent, and building a SaaS looks like the right path for me: I get to decide what I build, and getting it off the ground forces me to learn everything I'm currently missing. Market research so I don't ship something just because I personally like the idea, product marketing, tracking the right KPIs and actually acting on them. The development side is not what worries me. Everything”
“Hi everyone, hope this is okay to ask here. I'm in a career transition: 5+ years as a software developer, the last 2 working with AI, agents, and LLMs, and I want to move into the business side, sales, operations, product, where I can bring my technical background to a company or startup while learning and growing in this new area. I'm based in Colombia, open to local or remote roles. What entry/junior level positions would you recommend exploring for a transition like this? I'm open”
“My github account is full of generalised versions of things I have built in my career. That used to be diagrams and explainers, but it’s now full of apps, skills and workflows I’ve built. I’ve never been asked by an employer to remove anything from that repo. None of it rises to the confidentiality threshold, but it shows how deeply and throughly I think about things, and now in the world of AI I don’t need to worry about sacrificing any of that for speed.”
“This is a supply and demand thing. People who know react upside and down, including mostly backend developers, are a dime a dozen. They may not NEED someone who knows it by heart. But if they can find someone who do and knows all the other stuff, by the end of the week, why not? Yes, it sucks.”
Leetcode and system design is what people are gonna tell u here
“Hi everyone, I'm a React developer looking for small freelance or part-time opportunities. I can help with: - React bug fixes - UI improvements - Responsive design fixes - Small feature implementations - Frontend improvements I'm open to smaller tasks and short-term work. Even a small project in the $100–$250 range would help me a lot right now. I'm trying to take on some extra work because I have an important payment coming up on September 3, and I would really appreciate an opportu”