Is Your Career on Borrowed Time? As Your Age Rises, Your Perceived Professional Market Value Falls.

Whether you are in Product, Engineering, or Design, your career has an expiration date. ☠️.

You don’t think about it in your 20s or even 30s, but by default, your cushy Tech career has a shelf life or, in other words, an expiration date. While you can extend it, doing so requires being very intentional and strategic.

Here’s how it typically unfolds (using a PM example):

1. The Mid-20s: You’re landing your first PM role, focused on learning the craft, building your skills, and establishing a reputation.
   - The hungry newborn phase.
   

2. The Mid-30s: You’re cruising through various PM roles, using your experience to secure better opportunities, feeling invincible and confident in your journey.
   - The false euphoria phase.
   

3. The Mid-40s: Job opportunities start to dwindle, and the 20 years of experience “Competitive Advantage” you thought you could rely on, no longer set you apart in the market.
   - The dissolution phase
   

4. The Mid-50s: You find yourself settling for any product-related role, as the market increasingly favors younger professionals with newer skill sets. Though you’re grateful to stay employed, feelings of frustration, anxiety, and insecurity surface.
   - The regret phase

As a society, we should all work together to extend professionals’ career longevity. However, in reality, building career defensibility falls on each of us individually. Moreover, It doesn’t come naturally, as most of us are hard-wired to focus on short-term (1 to 5 year) wins, often at the expense or a complete lack of a longer-term defensible career vision.

I’m open to full-time Growth Product Leadership roles in B2B SaaS scaleups across EMEA and APAC.

Here is what you can do about it today:

1. First, Become Aware of The Problem: It’s the simple yet painful realization that your career has an expiration date. But hey, before tackling the problem, you first need to become aware of it. Many choose to ignore the alarm bells in their brain, but ignoring the problem won’t solve it - it will only make it worse.
   

2. Groom Your Expertise: Pick a niche within your professional domain - something you love and excel at - and make sure you own it! For example, Product management is too broad; it’s not a niche, but focusing on ‘Monetization for B2B SaaS’ or Core Product for Cybersecurity’ will make you stand out. Your niche may evolve, but starting narrow and staying focused is key to building career defensibility. You must be patient and methodic; becoming an expert takes years, not months.
   

3. Make Intentional Career Bets: Where you work, what you do, and who you surround yourself with shape your entire career journey. The people and environment you choose will mold your skills, expertise, and mindset. Be deliberate with your career moves, and think twice before chasing the next shiny thing. Focus on maximizing impact within your niche of expertise.

   

4. Always Keep Learning: Make learning a priority and a habit. The moment you stop investing in it, you risk becoming obsolete. Up-to-date knowledge, combined with relevant hands-on experience, is the key to building career defensibility and pushing back your career’s expiration date. Personally, I feel fortunate to live in a time where accessing any knowledge is easier and more affordable than ever.
   

5. Playing the Long Game: Let’s approach our careers as a 40- to 50-year marathon. Shifting to a long-term mindset forces us to address questions that often go unnoticed when we only think 4 or 5 years ahead. What will make me happy in the long run? How do I envision my professional self in 20 or 30 years? What risks threaten that vision, and how can I start positioning and enabling myself today to have a defensible career in 20 or 30 years? Moreover, thinking long-term helps reduce anxiety over short-term career hurdles, such as losing a job or facing interview rejections.

P.S. I’m 38 years old, and this topic sometimes keeps me awake at night. If you feel the same way, you’re not alone. The topic of a career expiration date in Tech doesn’t get nearly enough attention. ❤️