I never intended to have a career as a programmer. I planned to work for two years, save a bit of money, and get a PhD in Chemistry. Forty years later I retired as a programmer. Every step was something new, I had 15 different employers (plus myself for 9 years starting two little companies). There was never a plan beyond finding a better/different/less irritating job, and constantly improving what I could do. I never gave any thought to what I wanted to end my career on. It actually ended entirely as my decision, I still was at the top of my ability, and my employer was happy to pay me, but I was tired of working.

While planning might work for some people, having a more short term view can work for others. The only thing I could ever control was what I was able to do, and when I was ready to move on. There are many optimizations available to succeed in life; not all are obvious.

> While planning might work for some people, having a more short term view can work for others

One thing I noticed is that what I valued in my 20s wasn't what I valued in my 30s and 40s. It's difficult to anticipate who you will be in a few years from now. It may change drastically. Keep that in mind when planning!

Agree with the above. Seems to me, the many of us "going with the flow" without a thorough long-term plan, are perhaps applying Agile development principles to our "career" (aka series of jobs) , whereas the author is taking the nowadays-apparently-discredited Waterfall approach , where supposedly you can know where you're going to be at date X. Which of course we now know doesn't actually work out in software. And as for careers, even more so. One cannot predict the overall economy, or who one might marry , how many kids one might have, whether everyone is healthy in extended family, what one might feel like doing to be happy later on etc ;)

Could you describe how each job hop was less annoying than the less?

I know it’s a big ask.

I am just insanely curious to know.