This is a popular interview question with lots of sample answers. They all tend to be generic or do not offer enough variations for the software development profession.

I’m going to tackle this question differently in this article. Firstly, I’m going to focus on software development. Secondly, instead of only exhibiting sample answers, I will examine various career aspirations and practical circumstances to arrive at possible responses.

Let us start with a question that tells who you want to become:

5 years from now, do you still want to write codes?

“Yes, I love writing codes!”

Then 5 years from now, you will want to gain more technical skills, in-depth experience, broader knowledge, or deeper expertise. Your options are:

• I plan to continue to expand my skills in [specific technologies], and also want to gain more experience in [other technologies or areas of development]
• I also want to continue to learn new technologies and programming languages to be always up-to-date with the latest trends
• I also want to further develop my skills in [specific technologies], and start learning [new technologies] to be a more versatile and valuable team member

You need to align your preferred technologies or areas of development with those that the position or the company demands. A Venn diagram will help. Some popular choices I have recently heard or read about include:

• Full stack, frontend, backend, mobile developments
• DevOps, container, Kubernetes, cloud-based infrastructure, infrastructure-as-code
• Data engineer, Hadoop, Spark, and Kafka
• IoT development, MQTT, CoAP, and Zigbee
• Blockchain, smart contracts, decentralized applications
• AI development, machine learning, deep learning, TensorFlow, Keras, and PyTorch

If you are young or ambitious or both

You will want to move up to a more senior position, with larger responsibility, better pay. Your options are:

• In 5 years, I hope to have advanced to a senior developer position, or perhaps taken on lead roles in new projects and initiatives
• I am also interested in mentoring and helping to develop the skills of junior developers on my team
• I would like to take on more leadership roles within the development team, and also to be more involved in the decision-making process of the company.

I have a caution to make here. You do not want to agitate your interviewer by implying that you will displace or jump over him or her in your ambitious quest. Prelude your answer with “as the team/department grows”, “to support you”, or “under your guidance/mentoring” should ease their nerve.

If you are already at a senior level and just want to write codes

The more senior you are, the harder it is to get to the next career level. There may still be room to rise, but you may go several years without a promotion. In addition, most companies have a max career level for individual contributors, beyond which you will transition to a managerial position with a lot less coding.

So if you just want to write codes, I recommend that in your response, you will:

• Focus on expanding your skill sets toward new technologies or areas of development
• Continue mentoring and developing junior members
• Highlight the type of contribution and impact your skills and experience can bring to the team’s output and decision making
• Make clear your passion for hands-on work in addition to other leadership activities

“No, but it is still related to software development”

It is tricky here because the company is considering hiring you to write codes. I recommend that you do not lie even if you need the job desperately. If your research uncovers that the company or the hiring department is not supportive of such a transition, it is better to focus your effort elsewhere.

You may even fare better if you are honest with the interviewer about your plan. I hope that since they ask this question, they have a genuine interest and a supportive culture to develop their employees and align employees’ interests with their missions. After responding to the interviewers, you should follow up with questions about the company’s policy and culture related to career transitions.

Now, let’s assume that you decided to share your plan. Some transitions are more accepting to the hiring manager because the future role is likely reporting to the same manager, or filling in a current or future need of the software development project you are interviewing for, or both:

• In 5 years, I see myself as a software architect. I want to focus on designing and developing large-scale systems and applications
• I hope to have transitioned into a role that allows me to combine my developer skills with my passion for security. I want to focus on developing and implementing security solutions and learning more about different types of attacks and how to protect against them
• I hope to have transitioned into a role that allows me to combine my developer skills with my passion for machine learning. I also plan to continue to develop my skills in data science and data engineering

The below transition, I feel, is more challenging to get through. But it can still be said if you are tactful. I had a note of caution about it in the young-and-ambitious section above.

• I hope to have transitioned into a more managerial role and take on more responsibilities in leading a team of developers

And there are some in between. In my experience, these roles often report to the hiring manager’s counterparts.

• I hope to take a more active role in product development and deliver the best UI for maximum user experience
• I hope to transition to a project management role (or an agile coach role)

What if you are undecided?

This happened to me several years back. I was split between continuing to write codes versus becoming a project manager or a product manager. Even though my answer was blunt and unimpressive, I had a few things right.

Firstly, I kept my options open and accepted that I have more than one possible future. Hence in developer interviews, I described the developer-future.

Secondly, I highlighted the diversity of skills and knowledge I acquired from the other tracks and how they could complement those of a developer (or vice versa, to those of a project manager, or product manager).

While it turned out great for me, your preference and circumstance may differ. If, for example, you cannot commit to any direction, you can be candid about that with your interviewers and ask to revisit the question after you have gained more clarity later in the interview process.

Let us turn to another question about your long-term commitment:

How frequently do you change job?

According to U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, the average tenure of an employee in 2022 is 4.9 years. For a person between 25 to 34 years old, the tenure is sharply lower at 2.8 years. You may not want to overpromise your long-term commitment when you are in that age bracket. Or they should parameterize the questions to the latest figure.

If we assume a more acceptable horizon, let’s say 2.8 years, answering the question will reveal how committed you are to one employer. If you have a history of short-term job hopping, you need to think carefully about your answer. I recommend you be upfront if you have other plans in the near future.

Perhaps you like to travel and hence move every 2 years. Do you know that fully remote and work from anywhere have not only stuck around after the pandemic, but they are also becoming popular?

Or perhaps you plan to go back to school in a couple of years. You really should share this plan with your interviewers because the company may have an education sponsorship program.

If you are interviewing for a contract position

I would be surprised if you are asked this question because termed contracts often last just months, or 1 or 2-year max.

But if you are asked, I recommend that you give a candid answer plus a question back to the interviewer about their company’s contract-to-perm conversion policy. I suppose that they see potential in you and are considering having you longer than the initial contract.

Conclusion

I hope you have a clearer idea of what will you be doing 5 years from now. By drafting your response based on real career aspirations and practical circumstances, you will play an active role in navigating your career and taking control of interviews.

comments powered by Disqus