DonTheDeveloper Podcast
DonTheDeveloper Podcast
Trapped in a Dead End Developer Job? Here’s How to Break Free.
Feeling stuck in your dev job? You’re not alone. In this, I’m breaking down why so many developers end up in dead-end positions and, more importantly, how you can break free. No fluff, just real talk about what’s holding you back and what you can do about it.
I’ve been there—comfortable, bored, and not growing. If your job is sucking the life out of you, it’s time to shake things up. We’ll chat about why personal projects are game-changers, how to push for more responsibility at work, and why networking isn’t just for extroverts (even if it feels awkward as hell).
---------------------------------------------------
🔥 Webdev Career Help - https://calendly.com/donthedeveloper/coaching
🎮 Join Discord - https://discord.gg/TpQe2k8Ab3
❤️ Support What I Do - https://www.patreon.com/donthedeveloper
Disclaimer: Some product links are affiliate links which means if you buy something I'll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
===========================
WEBDEV COURSES I HIGHLY RECOMMEND:
🎓 Learn Frontend - Scrimba (20% off): https://scrimba.com/the-frontend-developer-career-path-c0j?via=donthedeveloper
🎓 Learn Backend - Boot.dev (25% off): https://boot.dev/?promo=DONTHEDEVELOPER - Get 25% off your first payment with code "DONTHEDEVELOPER"
🎓 Already Experienced? Level Up Here - Code Crafters (40% off): https://app.codecrafters.io/join?via=donthedeveloper
In this video I want to talk about why many developers are stuck in dead-end jobs and I want to give you some tips on how to kind of overcome a situation if you do feel like you are stuck. But sometimes I get the question of, like I've been at this company, I'm not really growing, not really getting the mentorship that I need and I feel stuck and I feel like I'm not qualified for other positions and I hate when people end up in that position. You know those kinds of positions are always fixable, but I want you to try to identify some of this stuff if you feel like it's happening at your current dev job. So the very first thing is lack of continuous learning and skill development development. Now, I think, with some tenure at a company, if you are essentially just like owning a part of an application that you've worked on for several years and you're not really giving a lot or given a lot of other responsibilities, other parts of the app to work on, just something that challenges you in a way that you that's different than what you've been doing for the past six months, you know, because sometimes it's just easy to get locked into a certain part of the app, working with the same tools over and over and over, day after day after day, and it's easy to get comfortable with that, right, it's a stress-free well, I shouldn't say stress-free, but it's low stress. You know what you're doing, you can push out features, you know the code base, you can estimate times very easily for different stakeholders right. But there comes to a point where some companies don't really they're not pushing you towards kind of a more leadership role or a more senior position or to have other or more complex responsibilities, and you get this in the startup world a lot.
Don Hansen:I would argue that this video is probably for a lot of people in the startup world where they kind of just need you to continue flushing out the app and continue flushing out features that customers want to bring revenue in or try to increase revenue, and you just get comfortable after a while. Right, this is normal in the startup world and you have to realize like sometimes, when you start getting comfortable, you have to take that initiative outside of the opportunities work is giving you. That might even mean building a personal project, exploring a different technology, because sometimes you get trapped in a certain technology and I hate to see when developers want to go into more complex things and they get stuck just working with WordPress and changing content and or like on a low code system where they're not really diving heavily into programming. It's just a little bit of logic. With low code you can get stuck in these situations and if the company isn't giving you opportunities to get out of them, you have to take those opportunities outside of your current work and you could do that through personal projects. I highly highly recommend every developer work on a personal project on the side.
Don Hansen:Some people don't want to hear it, some people don't want to make time for it, but this is what I've heard from a lot of other hiring managers as well, because not only will you be able to challenge yourself in different ways, that you don't get at that current position, but it ignites that passion again. Like just man, I don't know about you, but just coding the same thing, working on the same piece of the app over and over and over it can get boring and it's not that challenging. And you know I'm going off of someone else's conventions and I'm in their code base building up their dream. Like that's how burnout happens for me. I don't know about you, but that just doing that for years and years and years just sounds exhausting. I find that when I do feel a little burned out from work, just dipping into a personal project where I don't have restrictions, we're gonna do whatever the fuck I wanna do, build whatever the fuck I wanna build, and that thing could make me money down the road, the thing I could get a user base, or, if I wanted to, you know, uh, build in public and gain an audience around it. There's a lot I could do with building this personal project. I could also challenge myself with new technologies that I don't get to at work.
Don Hansen:You might have to do that, but I would start with trying to push for taking more ownership, more responsibility at your current company. And sometimes you need to prove yourself, and that might mean working some extra hours to dip in or fix some like really hard to fix bugs that have been left in the dust for a while because it's not feature work and you know it's not what shareholders want. And taking that ownership to fix some more complex problems, to show that you can do that, you're resourceful enough to do that on your own and you want to take that initiative. Sometimes that's all that you need to signal to your hiring manager or whoever that like. I'm ready for more responsibility. If you're doing the same thing over and over and over, expect the same results and you're probably going to get locked into whatever tech stack, whatever language, whatever problems you're trying to solve, and you're not really going to branch out of that. So what I'm trying to say is don't expect your hiring manager to force you to significantly grow, because sometimes they just want you to do the job and you know they're happy with that. You have to look out for yourself here.
Don Hansen:Another thing is poor networking and industry connections. A lot of developers do not take the time out to connect with other developers in the industry it is. You know it can be exhausting doing that, but it can also be really fun. Um, try putting yourself at a conference, try going to networking meetups, try giving back to the developer community and and mentoring in some sort of capacity. It's very. I noticed like a lot of professional developers don't take the time to really build out their connections and you know, if these recent years haven't been proof enough for you, I don't know what is like. You don't have job security. Job security is an illusion. I feel like most people realize that. But I think most people just need to put themselves out there in the dev world and not just be locked into their dev position, because you can lose that dev position at any time. And I am telling you, when you do, or if you do get laid off and you have those connections and you've built up a presence in the dev world, you are the developer that isn't afraid of what happens next, right, you are not the developer that's now having to do the slow process of networking and building up meaningful connections to be able to propel yourself in your career.
Don Hansen:After that layoff, start building up those connections Once you finally get fired or laid off. This can take six months. This can take a year. This can take two years. This can take a long time, depending on how much initiative you have to really test your social skills and put yourself out there in uncomfortable social situations to meet other people, meet other developers, to post on LinkedIn, to post on Twitter your developer thoughts, create content on YouTube, create a podcast, like there are a lot of different opportunities out there to put yourself out there, get attention, get eyeballs on what you're saying, get people to care about what you have to say and build those meaningful connections through that. You know whether it's content or is going to conferences or meetups. But it takes time to do that. Don't expect that to happen right after you get laid off. That can. It can take a lot longer than what people think, and so this is one of those situations where you can start now and you could just start by, you know, going to a meetup, going to a very popular meetup and talking to one person at that meetup. But start now.
Don Hansen:Please do that and don't necessarily trust that your hiring manager is going to give you a good reference, because even if they do give you that reference, you know that might come in handy when they're checking for references, when they've mostly already decided that you're a good fit. But you know, if your hiring manager doesn't have their own massive connections to put you out there, if you get laid off and a lot of other people are probably going to be laid off as well, in that case, like so who do they prioritize? Um, I wouldn't depend on references like that. References come in handy for validation when they already, when the company already vibes with you, when they already kind of validated your skill level as well, it can help for kind of initial transitions into HR conversations. But they need to have their own connections to be able to do that and they need to be able to personally recommend you. So it's great when that can happen. Just don't depend on it. Take that initiative outside of your current job to dive deeper and just put yourself out there in the dev industry. Do it early, do it now.
Don Hansen:And also a third thing is I think a lot of developers are. They get comfortable right. It's really easy to be comfortable in a routine. A lot of people don't like change and I don't really enjoy the interview process. I don't know about you, but I don't. I don't enjoy the job search process. I enjoy the job. I enjoy coding, but I think it's natural for us to To Not see A future where we don't hold our current job right. If things are going good with our job, I think it's very natural for us to kind of just live in our little bubble at that job and try to do as good of a job as we possibly can be with that specific job. It's it's a narrow focus. It's easy to conceptualize. It's easy to visualize what I need to do for this specific job.
Don Hansen:It's very scary. It's very, sometimes overwhelming to think well, if I don't have this job, am I really going to be able to perform at other jobs, like I know this job? But so many other depositions are way different. Right, they can be, depending on the industry, the company, the team, the stack. I don't even know if I'm going to be marketable Like I'm. I know what to do with this job. But this is a pretty unique scenario that I'm in. Am I going to be marketable? And that's a scary feeling because you're giving so much power, so much power to that employer by putting all of your eggs in that basket and just focusing on trying to up your skill and make your boss happy in that specific niche job.
Don Hansen:It's very scary to think about what could happen if I try to change things up. It's very scary to think about what could happen if I aim for something better, harder, more challenging, where I might not be able to hit the ground running as fast as I'd like to. Maybe I don't hit the ground running as fast as they don't, that they would prefer that I, oh God, maybe I hit the ground running just much slower than what the expectations are of that employer. I promise you no cuts, no edits. We keep going. I'm doing this for 28 videos straight, so it's easy to have all of this anxious thinking that continues to suppress you into the little comfortable bubble that you have formed in this job and I just hope I don't get fired. But you know, as we talked about, job security is an illusion and maybe you don't want to think about this, but I would really gain the mindset of like it's not.
Don Hansen:If I'm going to get fired, it's when prepare for the worst, expect yourself to get fired. It's when Prepare for the worst, expect yourself to get fired, expect yourself to get laid off. Then what right? You're going to have to force yourself to adapt to a very uncomfortable situation. You're going to have to force yourself to possibly address that. Maybe you haven't been staying up to date with the most marketable technologies. Maybe you haven't been getting proper code reviews and good mentorship at a company to have you significantly grow like. Maybe you were given a senior title one year into your company when in reality they just did that to keep you and you.
Don Hansen:You know, if you go to other companies and try to apply for senior positions, you're probably not going to be looked at as a senior developer, you're not even going to be close, right Then what? Right? Then you got to address the uncomfortable situation, like maybe I'm not a senior developer, maybe I got to check my ego and go to kind of a more junior position. I've only been in this industry for one year and you know that's uncomfortable. But I want you to try to face the uncomfortable with, I guess, the uncomfortable possibility that maybe you could do way better than what you are now. Maybe you can get into a much more challenging position, maybe you can get into a much higher paying position. And people do this when they bounce to a different company. That is a better fit, a better challenge for them, because they truly are pushing themselves. They're making sure that they don't get comfortable in their situation. They're working on a personal project on the side. They're learning that marketable technology on the side. They're getting outside of WordPress if they don't want to in their situation. They're working on a personal project on the side. They're learning that marketable technology on the side. They're getting outside of WordPress if they don't want to work with WordPress. Or maybe you do. Maybe you want to go into agency work in WordPress Shopify. I think those are two great platforms to dive deeper into.
Don Hansen:I think a lot of people just don't they kind of fear that change. I fear that change. A lot of people just don't they kind of fear that change. I fear that change. A lot of people fear that change and there's only one way to overcome that. It's to do what you fear making a career move that excites you but you don't think you can do it. That, most likely, is your next stepping stone in your career. You are going to grow significantly from facing that fear.
Don Hansen:And I got to touch on the fourth thing and I'm sure some people just cringe when I talk about it, but I got to touch on it again because it's that important it's soft skills. It's very easy to just meld into your culture and not branch outside, which you know what I said before. You can go to meetups, you can go to conferences, you can put yourself out there in the dev community and engage with other people that you know might not vibe with you the way that your company vibes with you, the way that your team vibes with you, or maybe you're just working with one other person on your team. It's gonna be way different working with a whole team of developers with different personalities and way more shareholders. Maybe and um, I mean a lot of devs need to work on their social skills. It's just the truth.
Don Hansen:Don't get rusty with those, and it's easy to work on them. It's easy to get good with just talking with people. A lot of the times you are way less awkward than you think you are, but it just comes with a lot of repetition and saying a lot of stupid shit and putting yourself out there to just get a little bit more comfortable with conversation after conversation after conversation. And if this doesn't apply to you, you can ignore this. But you know, I think that this applies to a lot of people who need to just get more comfortable with the anxious thoughts they have, both with changing and bettering themselves, but also meeting new people and making new connections that can help you make that happen. So I guess we went over four things today, but if you have anything else that you uh like any other reasons why you think maybe you're stuck in your position or you see other developers getting stuck, definitely leave it in the comments below. I want to hear about it, but that's my advice for it. I hope it helps.