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Things I Learned to Become a Senior Software Engineer

neilkakkar.com

21–30 of 129 posts

Re: Things I Learned to Become a Senior Software Engineer

#21

I was a bit worried about the title saying "Senior Software Engineer" because this may trigger people. But, surprised that all the discussions are about this, instead of the content.

There are a bunch of topics on HN that tend to bring out the same debate again and again irregardless of the content of the link.

Re: Things I Learned to Become a Senior Software Engineer

#22
post #14

It's easy to become a senior software engineer, anyone can do it with these simple steps: 1. Open an index.html, include a javascript file and write an alert or console log. 2. Create your own company. 3. Title yourself as a senior software engineer. Joke aside, during my career I've met several senior software engineers that are anything but and several "normal devs" that are a lot better than most people who have t…

If I start my own company, I’ll be the Supreme and Exalted Overlord . Not something silly like a senior dev.

[deleted]

Re: Things I Learned to Become a Senior Software Engineer

#23
It seems millennial achievement medals have now become job titles. Two years to become a senior engineer out of college is a joke. You only just know how to work in a general sense in that time frame, domain expertise comes much later. After a University degree, you only really know what page in your textbook to turn to when you recognise a problem. I come from a mechanical engineering background and it probably takes between 6-8 years to become a senior engineer, and it genuinely takes that long to learn enough so that you don’t harm someone with your shitty design.

Re: Things I Learned to Become a Senior Software Engineer

#25
post #13

While it’s not impossible. I find it hard to believe anyone could become senior (in terms of actual skill) in two years.

It's kinda hard to be one when you've never had to maintain the monstrosity you've built for more than a few months. All the hard lessons are learned 5 years down the line when the wrong decisions really hurt you.

Re: Things I Learned to Become a Senior Software Engineer

#26
post #14

It's easy to become a senior software engineer, anyone can do it with these simple steps: 1. Open an index.html, include a javascript file and write an alert or console log. 2. Create your own company. 3. Title yourself as a senior software engineer. Joke aside, during my career I've met several senior software engineers that are anything but and several "normal devs" that are a lot better than most people who have t…

If I start my own company, I’ll be the Supreme and Exalted Overlord . Not something silly like a senior dev.

That is true, I think my title would be "Dream Alchemist" or something like that. ;)

Re: Things I Learned to Become a Senior Software Engineer

#27
post #13

While it’s not impossible. I find it hard to believe anyone could become senior (in terms of actual skill) in two years.

This is a very subjective question. I think a senior engineer is an engineer who can develop features without hand-holding. The technical leader should be able to say, "Develop feature X. These are the requirements." and then not worry.

But what "senior engineer" means varies from company to company. So it becomes a loose term.

Re: Things I Learned to Become a Senior Software Engineer

#28

To start with, "Senior" and related titles basically mean a person who doesn't need much hand-holding. This might be related to time spent, but often you find there's a lot of variation. People I consider senior software engineers have a can-do-anything vibe about them. They have a wide range of skills in the field, and have that T-shaped experience profile: there's some area they seem to know everything about, and t…

It’s not just knowing how to do a bunch of things. No one can do everything. It’s the attitude and meta-skills that enable picking up the next new thing.

Re: Things I Learned to Become a Senior Software Engineer

#29
post #13

While it’s not impossible. I find it hard to believe anyone could become senior (in terms of actual skill) in two years.

This is a very subjective question. I think a senior engineer is an engineer who can develop features without hand-holding. The technical leader should be able to say, "Develop feature X. These are the requirements." and then not worry. But what "senior engineer" means varies from company to company. So it becomes a loose term.

> This is a very subjective question. I think a senior engineer is an engineer who can develop features without hand-holding. The technical leader should be able to say, "Develop feature X. These are the requirements." and then not worry.

In pretty much all companies those were just called "software engineers". Seniority requires decision making and longterm leadership skills, not just implementation work.

Re: Things I Learned to Become a Senior Software Engineer

#30

To start with, "Senior" and related titles basically mean a person who doesn't need much hand-holding. This might be related to time spent, but often you find there's a lot of variation. People I consider senior software engineers have a can-do-anything vibe about them. They have a wide range of skills in the field, and have that T-shaped experience profile: there's some area they seem to know everything about, and t…

> People I consider senior software engineers have a can-do-anything vibe about them.

I feel I can do anything as well, because if I can't then I will simply find a way to learn it, because to me it's not a question of whether I'm capable of learning it but how fast I'm capable of learning it. So I'd be careful with that vibe as a heuristic ;-)

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