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Apprenticeship Pattern “Stay in the Trenches”

The long and short of the pattern is to not accept a lucrative position or promotion if it takes you away from practicing your technical skills. If those skills aren’t constantly honed, they will be lost or become outdated before long.

A family friend was a midlevel manager at a software development company before he was laid off. He had gotten away from doing the technical work. The trouble was that most companies promote from within, so it was hard for him to apply for a job that he had before. It was also hard for him to start a job doing the technical side because those skills weren’t as fresh in his mind. There’s a good lesson to be learned from his story.

I often hear from people complain their manager is out of touch. The pointy haired boss  from Dilbert strikes a chord for so many for a reason. Perhaps more fitting to this pattern is The Office’s (U.S.) Michael Scott. While he has his moments, he is by in large an extremely incompetent manager. However, he does go on some sales calls in the series, and it is clear that he is a brilliant salesman. It seems that it is common that people are promoted to the point where they are inept at that position and advance no further.

Although the pattern does not quite suggest that people are promoted until they aren’t the best managers they can be, it seems to suggest that if you are no longer using your technical skills, you will become more and more out of touch with that side. You will no longer be on track to become a master craftsman when you accept this route.

I do not want that to be me. I would like to continue to grow and learn. I have talked to people who have a technical background and become something else, such as a salesman or manager. I have been tempted to take this route. I am not saying that I won’t do something similar someday, but for the time being, this does not fit into my goals.

My goal is to become a master craftsman. I’m aware goals change over time, but I would like to pursue this for a while before reassessing. I feel as though the reason I would change tracks if I found that this career was no longer what I wanted. I don’t think that will be the case, but it is a possibility. The one thing I know I won’t do is change tracks if I’m happy where I’m at. Sometimes what seems like the logical next step to advance your career can actually be more of a step back. It is best to instead to choose the path that will lead you towards becoming a master instead.
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