Gen X vs Millenials vs Gen Z Developers

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Hey folks, I'm just leaving CrossFit. I'm going to go to a comment on my other YouTube channel. This one is from my main channel called Dev Leader and someone was responding to a video and was leaving a perspective from an engineering manager and they were talking about um sort of like generational differences and they I thought it was a a pretty interesting comment. So um they were saying essentially that as a engineering manager they like what was the phrase they use like it's almost it's too easy to assign things like you know just generational differences to like categorically explain people right and of course um like as they were kind of talking through the comment it's it's I feel like it's a good comment it's it's got some uh some substance to it, but they they're they're not saying that like generational stuff doesn't factor in, but it's like it's too easy to just make that an excuse.

And so they were kind of sharing a little bit of perspective of uh being an engineering manager working with people that are in a younger generation than you. And um and then the sort of opposite um cuz they go on to say essentially that it's not like you know therefore working for people that are way more tenured uh is is trivial or has no problems or no challenges. It's just that they're different. And so uh I thought it was kind of interesting to see that they're kind of talking about both sides of this and thought it'd be interesting to talk through on this channel. So, if you're new to this channel, I generally take uh submitted questions and then make video responses to them. Otherwise, I'll go looking for other software engineering topics to go over. And uh my goal is not to try and sit here and tell you that like, hey, uh I have an opinion and it's the only way.

It's more like, you know, here's some perspective based on my lived experiences as a engineering manager. And uh ideally I can try to touch on things from different angles and that way uh we can get a more rounded perspective to talk through. But of course you'll get my bias cuz I'm one person kind of talking here. So the generational thing is is something I feel like I feel like I hear more and more of it as of late. And I'm not saying that like obviously, you know, like there were there were no uh concepts of like generational differences before. Uh just that I I actually hear it come up more in conversations now than more than I ever have. And so one of the common themes that I hear around this, and it's kind of in this this person's comment as well, is this idea that like I guess there's maybe a couple pieces to it, but one is like immediiacy.

And uh I feel like this is getting uh the word I want to use is worse. Um uh but that sounds maybe too negative. uh it's more um prevalent I guess like it's it's it's not slowing down I guess is how I want to put it and so with immediacy like what do I mean well this idea that like um that the expectation of the rate that things move is is much faster and in particular that's around like careers so for example I'm going to exact exaggerate, right? Like a junior developer starts and they've worked for uh 6 months and they're already like okay so like when when do I become senior and then it's like well you know that's something that actually comes with multiple years of experience and it's like well I'm I'm doing good so like I should be getting promoted then

right and it's like I mean yes you are on track for that kind of thing but like it's going to take more time to to reach like a senior Well, and then well, why right like I'm I'm doing I'm doing the things, you know, uh meeting the expectations. So, like where like where's the promotion kind of thing? And so, uh, like I said, I'm exaggerating the scenario a little bit here, but this idea that like things are expected to be going faster. And it's kind of interesting like it's um, it's almost like some I don't know, like timing inflation that that seems to be happening. And I struggle with this a lot because I I've said this in other videos, but when I worked at a startup, like the title thing didn't make a difference or matter.

like I didn't care personally and we didn't really have we had like developer and senior developer and then like a manager role so there was no like other levels you weren't going from like level 1 2 3 4 5 it was just developer and senior and uh I don't know like was never really a factor for me so especially going into big tech after that where everything is levels every individual is to me it feels like everyone's hyper incentivized that you you focus on your career progression with regards to that level like how do you make that level go up and that's really all that matters and uh like almost to a fault I find um and when I say to a fault I don't mean uh like every every person every individual is like a bad person because of that I mean like systemically

we end up kind of like having this effect where people are incentivized to focus on, you know, just themselves and how they progress, which to me is kind of counter to like having an effective software engineering organization. But so anyway, this idea of, you know, progression becoming much and like much more f uh coming much more quickly. My god, I can't speak. And this I don't know like it seems generational to me because I I don't recall and maybe I'm just like a I don't know like missing it but I I know that for myself and people like my I don't know people I consider my peers like that are around I guess my my age and stuff like that. Um, yes, like I think career progression's always been important for all of us, but I I don't recall having conversations with peers where people were getting like distraught for not having, you know, got a promotion like once every 12 months or something like that.

And I hear I hear the concern a lot more uh for more junior developers and the time frame is is significantly shorter. So this immediacy thing is is kind of I don't know it's kind of interesting. It's like I don't like what is the expectation that like once a year you're promoted kind of thing. like it and I I say this out loud because like I I'm genuinely serious like what what what is the expectation that people have around this because I would say uh like at a big tech company uh that has multiple levels. Sure. Yeah. Like maybe in your first year you get promoted, right? you go from like a junior developer to like a uh SD2 or whatever the levels happen to be because every place is different. Like could I see that happening? Absolutely. Sure. But then like it do you imagine that the the progression is linear?

Like so if as long as you're doing an like your your expected job that once a year you get promoted because you would be like at the CEO level in like a few years, right? It's it I I don't know what people expect genuinely because the it's not linear and it gets harder and that's from a time horizon and an expectations perspective. So it's just it's just very interesting. So, I'd be really curious and uh this is a genuine invitation. I'd be very curious if you're more junior, right? Or you have, you know, some perspective or experience with this. I would love to hear um like what when you think about your career progression, what that expectation looks like. And I I promise this is a genuine open invitation because I I am curious. Like I said, I I see this more exaggerated, more junior developers like sort of as time goes on.

So immediiacy is one part. Um, this other thing that I've heard and it's related to like immediiacy or like almost like surface level kind of uh perspective is like I've heard more people saying about junior developers and this has nothing to do with AI by the way because this conversation uh at least that I've been hearing more of was before even chat GPT was being talked about just for clarity. Um, but developers coming on board and instead of being genuinely curious and trying to understand things, like stopping at the surface level, right? Being like, well, I don't I don't get it. It's not immediately obvious, so like I guess that's it. Guess guess it can't be solved. Um, and I'm I'm not I'm not saying this like every developer is like this. I'm saying that uh the frequency that I've observed this and the frequency that I've had other people kind of like share uh feedback about employees and stuff like that over time uh that kind of thing is seems more prevalent.

But why, right? Is this is this a real thing that's happening generally uh generationally? maybe because of social media technology or is this like I don't know just a conflated perspective like it's not there's not actually data that backs this up and it's just us who have been having more experience in the industry having uh I don't know like I said a conflated exper uh perspective on it. I I'm very curious about this. But this person in their comment on my YouTube video was kind of saying how this this makes it very challenging to manage engineering teams because of uh you know some of these these gaps and we often just blame it on it being a different generation and it's like okay but that's even if it's true right let's let's pretend that that's true let's pretend hey if you're Gen X versus Gen Z versus millennial versus Gen Alpha that like we can just conclusively say like you operate in a in a different way.

Let's just assume that we can do that. If that were the case, like what do we do with that information? Because like it's as this person was saying, it's too easy to assign that as an excuse, right? So if you're a Gen Z, then what? like what what do we do with that? Because if you're a manager, you want to make sure that you can help your team be very effective, help them grow in their career. And the point is like if that is true, it's going to have to look different how you approach that. It's going to look different how you have to coach people, right? One of the things that was instilled for me very early in in my career from uh one of my HR leaders where I used to work, you know, she was saying that like never forget that you you need to like lean into situational leadership.

Pardon me. just this idea that like every person's going to be different. And so if you take a cookie cutter approach, you're going to have lackluster results. You're gonna you're going to be frustrated. People you are managing and leading are going to be frustrated because everyone is different. Now you might have core values and things and your philosophy that maybe is consistent but like your implementation uh like from person to person will look different. And so when we think about generational differences, like I think that is part of it. I think that is part of understanding like what are these generational differences? I'm not sitting here claiming I know what they are. I'm kind of sharing these are some of the observations I've had. But if there are generational differences, okay, great. How do you understand that on a per employee basis? Because again, just cuz someone's part of a generation doesn't mean they absolutely operate that way.

But how do you understand that about someone? And once you do like what do you do with that information to be more effective working with them and enable them to be more effective. Right? So for example, if if it was a true statement that um statistically younger generations expect more immediacy in their promotions, right? If that is the case, then I would say you probably need to spend more time bringing clarity to those expectations, right? Because if that's not true, you know, if it's not a linear promotion progression, every year you get promoted from now until the end of time, then like make that very clear. And like how you approach that will have to look different. I maybe that's a very obvious example, but like point being that I I think if you want to be effective in your role as someone who's leading people, um you're going to have to understand some of the stuff like this.

So, as you can probably tell as I'm talking through it, like I certainly don't have it figured out. Um, I don't know if I've necessarily identified, you know, conclusively these generational differences. But, uh, I I think the way that I try to to navigate is just if I if I try to understand everyone as an individual, then I can try to do my best work that way. Now, this person goes on to say though that like it is still difficult and like perhaps equally as difficult the other direction. So, you have people that are significantly older than you might be, right? So, generational differences the other way. They've been at a company a long time. They've been in the industry a long time. And one of the observations there is like they seem to be quite fixed in their ways. Again, sweeping generalization but based on a generation.

This is one such observation. So what do you do with that right? How do you navigate that? How do you help people in roles that are, you know, part of a generation that maybe exhibits that kind of trait? Like what how do you navigate that? And when you put it all together, you're going to have teams that are composed of different people, right? Like there's going to be older people, younger people, generational differences, um experience differences, and their different levels. So, if you want to be effective at managing these teams, you have to factor in these differences. And I think that it's like I don't know like maybe this is too strong of a word like negligent to ignore that there are such differences or it's negligent to assume that everyone can you know benefit from the same kind of coaching and mentoring because I

think it will look different but anyway point is that I thought it was very interesting that this person in engineering manager role had uh sort of a a similar lived experience um where either they have this perspective or they've been hearing more of it regarding younger generations versus older generations and this reality that that we live in which is there's a mix in the places you work. So another sort of invitation for you is like when you're hearing me say this, if you think about your workplace, do you observe things like that where there's like these big generational differences? And if not, like do you like do you have counter examples? Like that would I think that would be cool to hear from people. I think this is the kind of thing that uh on a a live stream would be fun to talk through if people were were actively kind of sharing.

But if there's enough comments on on this video for me to make a response to the comments and I can try to to group them together. Um because again I would if you're especially if you're not an engineering manager, I'd love to hear your take on what you observe maybe from your yourself, right? Like how you approach things and if you're thinking about people on your team, those interactions like what does that look like? Be very curious. Um but yeah, I thought it'd be kind of fun to to think through that for a little bit. Uh wasn't really like a there's no goal um except just to kind of explore the thought. And so yeah, I think that's it for this one. So if you got questions in general, leave them below in the comments. You can go to code.com and submit questions anonymously. I try to make video responses for software engineering topics and and career development.

So, let me know and I'm happy to try and help. Thanks so much. I will see you in the next video. Take care.