How can I determine whether I am in the mediocre column?

Mediocrity is the greatest taboo for programmers.

You can refer to the recent "software developer salary survey report". After reading this article, everyone may have different understandings. Some people feel that I have to earn so little money and change jobs. Some people feel that they can. My personal feeling is the above sentence: mediocrity is a taboo for programmers.

You can refer to the data in the figure to see which interval you are in. If ~ 50%, it means that your income is in the middle and lower reaches of the industry and you need to improve your capabilities in all aspects. Long-term mediocre results are likely to be eliminated.

In a relatively old industry, a relatively high income accounts for 20% ~ Nothing is more terrible than mediocrity in 30% of industries. On the other hand, it is a programming language. Database-related factors are not as important as possible.

This means that when a person gets stuck in an industry or direction, if it is worthwhile to invest continuously in this direction, as long as it reaches a certain level, it will be able to earn a higher income. (Of course, it is always far away from the big rich and big expensive ).

So what is height and mediocrity?

It must be highly important that few people can do things through hard work, practice, talent, and opportunities. On the contrary, it is mediocre.

This is not difficult to detect. Suppose a person with a normal IQ joins your company, and he works 3 ~ 5 years ago, what is the gap with you? If there is no significant difference, it is obvious that the tested person is mediocre.

In 3 ~ In the past five years, we have made some progress in the following aspects:

• Proficient in one or more programming languages;
• Can identify what is object-oriented and draw UML diagrams;
• Proficient in one or more frameworks, IDE;
• Be aware of and use some design patterns;
• Able to afford the specific work assigned by the company;
• Familiar with the company's basic development process;
• ......

However, if only these goals have been achieved during this period and no progress has been made since then, it is undoubtedly mediocre. Because once this happens, only three people have just graduated ~ 5-year difference. Here, we can clearly determine whether your work is in a simple repetition.

What can a person do if he doesn't want to stay mediocre? Many people may want to see the biography or something, but it is not a good idea. Biography writing is often not the same as that of the masses, so the reference value is low. For example, Mr. Lee Kai-Fu is from Carnegie Mellon, and the starting point is different from that of many people.

At this time, we need to find a breakthrough point based on our own reality. The general direction is as follows:

• First, if the technical path is long, further study on the technical path. For example, we strive to develop 12306 concurrent websites and break through the hardware and software barrier. In terms of image, it means that you can afford it easily. You can build a high-concurrency website, and you can design a consumer electronic product.
• Second, if the technical path is not very long, it is necessary to expand the field and understand business knowledge. Such as finance, ERP, and management software.
• The third is to lean toward pure management. At this time, we have to struggle with estimation, earning value, process, budget, and interpersonal conflicts. It is true that a manager understands the technology, but leaning toward pure management will almost ruin the technology unless it is a genius.

Most people think that this is Jinguang Avenue, but this is not the case. It can only be said that it is not bad, and the project manager is not necessarily much better than diannong. Maybe there are other directions that I did not think of at once, but it feels like that.