The Crisis No One Talks About
Twenty-five years into my software engineering career, I find myself in unexpected company. We are the millennium generation of IT—the massive wave of engineers who pivoted from core engineering when software was booming and traditional engineering couldn’t absorb us all. We jumped on the bandwagon together, rode the dotcom wave, survived the 2008 crash, built the cloud revolution, and now stand at a peculiar crossroads.
Last month, during a casual chat, a fellow engineering manager—brilliant, seasoned, with a resume that would impress anyone—confessed: “Sakti, I feel like my seniority has become a liability.” Another friend, a principal architect, admitted he’s considering consulting because “loyalty has become taxing.” The refrain is eerily consistent: AI is making younger, cheaper engineers more attractive. We’re told to upskill to stay relevant. The mental space is gloomy.
And the timing? Brutal. Our parents need care. Our children need us for college applications. Our health—and our spouse’s—isn’t what it used to be. The sandwich generation squeeze is real.
But here’s where I refuse to succumb to despair. Instead, I’m reframing our situation entirely: We are not aging professionals past our prime. We are 25-year-old organizations whose products and services have achieved success, now facing disruption from nimble startups.
This reframe led me back to Jim Collins’ Good to Great—a leadership classic I first read a decade ago but now understand with crystalline clarity. No book feels more relevant to our generational moment than this one. Here’s why.
The Big Idea: Disciplined Transformation
Collins’ central thesis emerged from rigorous research: Great companies aren’t built through dramatic acquisitions, celebrity CEOs, or revolutionary technology. They’re built through disciplined people making disciplined decisions with disciplined thought—a flywheel that builds unstoppable momentum over time.
For us 25-year veterans, this isn’t abstract theory. This is our playbook for the next chapter. We don’t need reinvention. We need disciplined transformation.
Five Principles That Will Save Your Career
1. Level 5 Leadership: Extreme Humility Meets Intense Professional Will
Collins’ Framework: Level 5 leaders blend personal humility with fierce professional resolve. They’re ambitious for the company, not themselves. They credit others for success and take responsibility for failures.
Why It Matters Now: Your 25 years of writing code, building teams, managing projects, and crafting strategy is your greatest asset—but only if you demonstrate intense professional will to build something great while remaining extremely humble about learning.
The Brutal Truth: Your experience can become your prison. I’ve watched senior engineers dismiss new ideas because “we tried something similar in 2010.” I’ve seen architects ignore younger developers’ insights because they lack gray hair. This is career suicide in 2026.
Your Action Step: This week, identify one thing you’ve dismissed as “just another trend” and genuinely learn it from someone 10+ years younger than you. Let them teach you. Ask naive questions. Demonstrate that your wisdom doesn’t preclude their knowledge.
2. First Who, Then What: The Right People Trump Strategy
Collins’ Framework: Great companies get the right people on the bus first, then figure out where to drive it. Wrong people with the right strategy fail. Right people figure out winning strategies together.
Why It Matters Now: You’ve spent 25 years building a network—use it ruthlessly. The right advisor, mentor, partner, or team member can make the impossible possible. The wrong ones will make possible things impossible.
The Brutal Truth: Many of us built echo chambers over the years—people who agree with us, think like us, validate our approaches. That’s comfortable. It’s also career limiting.
Your Action Step: Audit your inner circle. Who challenges you? Who brings perspectives that make you uncomfortable? If everyone nods in agreement, you’re in an echo chamber. Find one person this month who will tell you hard truths.
3. Confront the Brutal Facts: The Stockdale Paradox
Collins’ Framework: Admiral James Stockdale survived eight years as a POW by confronting brutal reality while maintaining unwavering faith he’d prevail. Companies die when they either deny reality or lose faith in ultimate success.
Why It Matters Now: The world has evolved. Learning new tools, technologies, processes, communication styles isn’t optional—it’s mandatory. You cannot stick to 2010 systems and expect 2026 results.
The Brutal Truth: Some skills you mastered are obsolete. Some management styles that worked are toxic now. Some technical approaches you championed are dated. Accepting this doesn’t diminish your value—denial does.
Your Action Step: List three things you’re avoiding learning because they feel threatening. Pick the scariest one and spend 30 minutes this week understanding it. Not mastering it—just understanding why it matters.
4. The Hedgehog Concept: Your IKIGAI at 25 Years
Collins’ Framework: Great companies focus obsessively on the intersection of three circles:
- What you’re deeply passionate about
- What you can be the best in the world at
- What drives your economic engine
Why It Matters Now: This is your IKIGAI moment. The thing you’ve been doing for 25 years might not be the thing you should do for the next 10. That’s terrifying and liberating.
The Brutal Truth: Many of us drifted into specializations by accident—market demand, manager assignments, project availability. We became “good enough” at many things rather than exceptional at one thing we love.
Your Action Step: Block 2 hours this weekend for honest reflection. What work makes you lose track of time? What would you do even if pay were equal across all options? What unique combination of skills do only you possess? Where do these three circles overlap?
My Journey: I realized my hedgehog isn’t pure technical architecture or pure people management—it’s building high-performing cross-cultural engineering teams through technical systems thinking. This insight focused my LinkedIn strategy, my role choices, and my book project. Clarity replaced scatter.
Getting Help: If this exercise feels paralyzing, hire an IKIGAI coach or career counselor. This is the most important strategic decision of your next decade. Invest in getting it right.
5. Culture of Discipline + Technology Accelerators: Your Non-Negotiable Foundation
Collins’ Framework: Great companies build a culture where disciplined people engage in disciplined thought to take disciplined action—then use technology to accelerate this, not compensate for lack of discipline.
Why It Matters Now: Even if you’ve never followed routines, discipline is non-negotiable now. You’re competing against younger engineers with fewer family obligations and veterans who’ve mastered sustainable performance.
The Brutal Truth: AI isn’t coming for your job—it’s coming for undisciplined workers at every level. English was our survival skill in 2000; AI fluency is our survival skill in 2026.
Your Action Step: Establish one daily discipline this week. Not five—one. Mine is 6:30-7:30 AM for deep technical learning (currently ByteByteGo system design). Consistent daily discipline beats sporadic heroics.
Technology Leverage: I use ChatGPT for first-draft documentation, GitHub Copilot for boilerplate code, and Claude (yes, this AI) for strategic thinking partners. These tools don’t replace my expertise—they multiply it. My 25 years of judgment combined with AI productivity makes me more valuable, not less.
Bottom Line: My Recommendation
Who Should Read This: Any software professional with 15+ years experience feeling uncertain about their next decade. Especially those considering VP/Principal level transitions or second careers. Of course for entreprneurs.
Best Consumed: When you’re ready to think strategically about your next chapter, not when you’re firefighting immediate crises. Read it with a journal, not just highlighting.
One-Sentence Takeaway: Your 25 years isn’t a liability approaching expiration—it’s a good company with potential for greatness if you apply disciplined transformation.
Your Next Steps
We’re not aging out. We’re mid-transformation from good to great.
This week:
- Pick ONE principle above and take the suggested action
- Share your biggest insight in the comments—what resonated most?
- Connect with one person in your network you haven’t spoken to in a year
Coming Next: The Manager’s Path by Camille Fournier—essential reading for technical leaders navigating the IC-to-management transition. Because many of us fell into management by accident; it’s time to master it by design.
What’s your biggest challenge at 25 years in tech? Drop a comment—I respond to every one. And if this resonated, share it with a fellow millennium-generation engineer who might need to hear it.
Life as Sakti 
There are many aspects that I could relate to, being in a similar pivot myself. I can completely relate to it. You have not only detailed the situation, but have also provided a compass to navigate these times. Great post, Sakti.