You’re already a senior dev — maybe even in a leadership role. You don’t make rookie mistakes anymore. You know your tools, you understand architec...
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Great summary!
Sr devs who minimize these traits become real mentors and leaders. This applies in just about any discipline. We have to understand how we learned through trial and error and how our mentors and leaders helped us along the way before we can truly be good mentors and leaders ourselves.
Absolutely — well said 🙌
Real seniority isn’t about avoiding mistakes, it’s about growing past them and then helping others shortcut the learning curve.
The shift usually happens the moment you stop thinking “I must prove I’m good” and start thinking “How can I help others become good too?”. That’s when leadership becomes natural, not positional.
Great thoughts!
Thanks! 🙌 Glad it resonated — which part landed with you the most?
The part about nitpicking in code reviews - totally relatable! I’ve been guilty of that before! Focusing on clarity and maintainability instead makes so much sense.
Totally — I think most of us go through a “nitpicking era” before we realise it slows more growth than it creates 😅
The moment you shift from policing to enabling, code review becomes mentoring instead of friction.
Just a question (THE question): are you a senior developer? ;)
Yes — and I’ve made most of these mistakes myself first 😉
That’s why I know them so well.
I did too! And I think that every senior developer did at least one of them, once…
Exactly — I don’t know a single real senior who didn’t fall into at least one of these at some point. Most of us learn them the hard way :)
Awesome post!
I loved it
Happy to hear that — thanks for reading! 🙌
So well written — these are the real “invisible mistakes” that separate seniors who lead vs those who block. The shift from control → enablement is gold. Thanks for sharing this reminder! 👏
Thanks! 🙌
Exactly — the turning point is when seniority stops being about ownership of code and starts being about ownership of outcomes and people. That's where real leadership begins.
That is pointing & even mocking a Senior Dev.🙆🏻♂️
Definitely not mocking — half of these are things I’ve done myself 😅 It’s more of a reminder than a criticism.
Lovely piece. I hope to be a senior developer 😀
Careful what you wish for 😅 — but if you keep growing with curiosity and empathy, you’ll be one of the good seniors for sure!