Steve Jones - SSC Editor (1/30/2015)

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There is no landing, senior or not. There is only stops along the path of your career.

As you gain experience, and talent, you will have more, and fewer choices, but it's all up to you. If you expect to constantly gain salary, you will find that harder and harder over time. That's the nature of any business. The best artist/athlete/programmer will reach a place where they can't necessarily raise the market price for their services. If you look at money as a measure, you will be disappointed at some time. Not that money isn't important, but keep things in perspective. The more you want to get paid, the fewer people that will afford you.

At the same time, the challenges and opportunities at a job may matter to you. If you always want a harder problem, you'll find the same limitations at some point.

Some people are restless and want to look for something new all the time, above all else. If that's you, I would think you should consider consulting, either with someone or by yourself. Which you choose probably depends on your tolerance for the non-technical parts of a business.

Some people value stability, and if you value that highly, you'll sacrifice some challenge and excitement. However stability is very relative these days, and you need to keep that in mind.

I have moved back and forth from consulting to FTE, and like both, but I tend to value the co-workers I have and environment more than other things. I have to enjoy going to work. I find the DBA/developer job to be pretty much the same in most places, but my co-workers make the difference.

It's too to investigate and consider other options, but don't think of this as the game of Life, with a few choices and an ending point. There are many paths, many directions to go. Some may cross, but many do not.