Career Layers

The third dimension you will want to explore is where you want to work in the stack.

The OSI model and career layers

Here, we can explore a mental model inspired by the OSI Model. The OSI Model provides a mental framework for how different technologies like HTTP, TCP, IP, and 802.11 come together, each solving their assigned problems and (for the most part) seamlessly interoperating (with the help of some Narrow Waists).

You can divide the universe of software jobs along the same lines. I always think of how the value chain for humans is kind of similar to our underlying tech. From the folks who write firmware that provides raw hardware capability, all the way up to end users who create software with software, and all the interesting software jobs in between.

So, without further ado:

Here, my focus is on people who are primarily expected to code for their jobs. If you’re a founder or, a project manager (PM), ...