zzaip

Hi HN. I'm an early career iOS dev at BigCo in SF, considering finding a new job in web. I'm hoping some more experienced devs from either side could weigh in.

My thinking goes something like this:

// Vaguely pro-web

1) My long term goal is to acquire the skills that best enable me to execute my own ideas. It seems like more ideas lend themselves to web than to apps. The app goldrush is over. Web may be a more versatile skillset.

2) Jumping to web should allow me to learn more fullstack/backend - skills I currently lack.

3) I love Swift (truly), but I'm not an Apple fanboy. It seems like you must live and breathe the Cocoa APIs to truly excel as an iOS dev.

// Vaguely pro-mobile

4) Web seems like the wild west. JS framework churn is still everpresent. It seems like best practices haven't solidified. It feels like anything goes.

5) In iOS, I encounter software engineering problems and grapple with difficult design questions daily, and grow as a result. So far my experience with web has felt more like gluing shit together. Am I going to grow as much in web? Will I become bored?

6) The web job market in SF seems more saturated than mobile. I sense that good mobile devs are highly sought after, and probably paid more. I don't have hard data to back this up.

7) I see lots of people switching from web -> mobile, not the other way around. I'm not sure why this is but it gives me pause.

Finally, there's the cost of retooling. I'm not a total web noob (some React/Redux/JS/TS experience), but I'm not an expert, so a switch would come as a cost.

Even better, if anybody has a compelling framework to think about these kinds of career decisions, I would love to hear about it.

I'm a relatively junior software engineer, a little over a year out from university, with a cushy remote job working for big-co. And I never know how much work to do on a given day.

Right now, my daily rule of thumb is to try to have my butt in the seat for ~8 hours. I clock out at 6 and stay disciplined so I don't end up overworking as many remoters do. The main disadvantage of this strategy is that it just doesn't align with the reality of the job. Some days I work on something complex and want to work more hours, while others I'll knock out a few small things and want to call it early.

Strategies I'd like to use but can't:

- Show up and leave with my coworkers. We're a remote team, and have a few serious workaholics on the team (not to mention the issue of timezones).

- Leave when I've done my tasks. This might work if we had actual sprints. Our reality is an endless stream bugs and features for us to work on before we launch our product, and we just grab tickets as they come. Hopefully this improves after launch.

What do you do? I want to do enough work to feel good about myself, without burning out. I have very little supervision from management, my coworkers seem to respect and like me, and I am generally productive. Help me, HN.