Infomation on Job status in US in IT

I would like to talk with some people who works in software development in the US

Over twenty years as a coder, sadly.

AMA

Ok good because I want to make the leap as 3yearx xp developer from Europe

So what's your question?

Where do you work? East/West Coast? Is it like in Europe, where there is a lot of demand by software development companies to hire? In advance, excuse my english

Where do you work? East/West Coast? Is it like in Europe, where there is a lot of demand by software development companies to hire? In advance, excuse my english

I used to be west coast, sf area, but I cashed out all of my assets for a hopeful career change and moved to the east coast.

Didn't expect to actually get hired anywhere, but even in this town I can clear a good wage, so I thought why not. Now I'm trapped coding again, lol.

So in that sense, demand is really good still.

Well I'm an analyst developer C# .NET Angular actually. But good to hear that the demand is good. Why do you say trap?

And are you aware if a lot of foreigners with the same job as you are coming to the US? Oh is it pretty rare?

Angular is really good, meng. Get good at that shit.

But yes realize that the whole career is a trap. If you're good, they will not promote you because you 'get it'. Employers will not promote you because it's risky and they will not be looking out for your career growth prospects.That's all on you.

There's two paths you can go. Aggressively get into management or ride it out, live small, and get together an exit strategy. You've got fifteen to twenty years. Tick tock, mf's, get your ass going.

I know this, I'm one of the foreigners people are/were afraid of.

Ok but I'm a Belgian guy so I can blend more easily.
And yes, I'm not coding all day long given that I'm an analyst, I write specs as much as I'm coding so I'm aspiring to be a project manager or Bussiness Unit manager

Ha, being from canada I'll bet I can blend better that you. But the business analyst route is arguably better than pure dev.

Still, know your exit plan now and work toward it. Build your net worth, I cannot emphasize this enough. So when the time comes, you can just walk away into the sunset like me.

Oh Canada :) Actually about going to the Montreal region. for the french ofc... I think I'm pretty good at expressing myself in English but it will make harder for me to be hired in the US.

Build your net worth? What do you mean? I'm going to do only angular for now but maybe wait to have 5years xP? or more?

East coast is rough. You don't make anywhere near the money they're paying on the west coast but you have to keep up with all of their stupid hipster fads that don't work.

Actually anywhere works for me really. I love the southWest more than the east coast for being there a few times. But now, I'm wondering if I have to be hired first before taking the leap or going there from broke you know?

Anyway thanks for the replies and honest opinion that helps

It's very important to start investing early, especially in a fickle industry like software. Buy rental properties, index funds, etc. to give you a cushion in case things get bad.

What they don't tell you is that programming is like pro sports. You're done after X number of years and you need to make sure you'll be ok when things degrade.

Read retireby40.org and learn how he walked away. Do the same.

No problem from that point of view, I'm all set. when you say you are done after X years, can you explain why? Because It seems to me that when you reach expert status,you can work more in consulting and being payed more no?

Perhaps, but it also gets harder to find employers that appreciate the experience. Now you're coming up against marketing and promotion issues.

Can you convince employers that you're worth the dollars? And do you even want to?

In my case, I used to think IT was the shit and that I'd never want or need anything else. But now I want more than just pumping out code.

My advice, if you want to continue in this industry, start your own biz. Contract out other people, bid on contracts, go for the brass ring.

I work as a developer and the business requires constant personal growth and adaptation. You really have to stay on your A game to be competitive. Someone starting out now will not be useful 10-15 years from now with the same skillset. The whole game is constantly shifting so you really need to keep up with trends, technologies, and constantly be improving your skills.

not a problem im a passionate
thank you so much for your insights!

You are exactly correct. And my whole point is that it's unsustainable in the long term. So plan accordingly. As a dev, you have a time bomb strapped to you, so either have an exit plan or suffer the consequences.

We'll see how long passion lasts when you're on the job after 8 years of no career growth. Alot of people in development seem to be riding it out to retirement. After 10 years you either go back to school and study something else or you're on a trajectory to management. If you don't make management after 10 years it's time to try something else.