✍️ Author: A software engineer still learning, but confident enough now to look back and share the journey.
When I first started out as a developer, the title "Senior Software Engineer" sounded almost mythical to me.
I imagined them as coding wizards—super productive, always confident, knew everything, and never googled anything (which, spoiler alert: is a lie 😅). But as I moved forward in my own journey, I realized being a Senior is less about knowing everything and more about thinking deeply, mentoring others, and making decisions with confidence and context.
So here’s a personal take on how I went from Junior to (hopefully) a competent Senior—and what I learned along the way.
🎯 The Beginning: Coding Isn’t Everything
When I landed my first dev job, I thought my main job was to write code.
Turns out, there was a lot more:
Understanding an existing codebase
Working with Git properly
Understanding CI/CD pipelines
Communicating with designers, PMs, and other devs
Handling Jira tickets
Not breaking production (too often)
I had a lot to learn. And the best advice I got early on?
“You don’t need to know everything. But you do need to be curious about everything.”
That stuck with me.
🧠 Growth Mindset: Googling Is a Skill
It’s OK not to know things. In fact, it’s normal. What matters is how you respond to that.
As I grew in my role, I learned to:
Read documentation instead of avoiding it
Ask thoughtful questions
Google better (yes, it’s a skill)
Break big problems into smaller pieces
A Senior doesn’t always have the answer—but they usually know how to find it, or at least know what questions to ask.
🤝 It’s Not Just About Code
As I moved into more senior responsibilities, I started seeing my role change in subtle but powerful ways.
Being a Senior often means:
Mentoring junior devs
Giving constructive code reviews
Leading discussions during planning
Taking ownership of broken things
Saying “No” to bad ideas—even when they’re shiny
Soft skills matter. In fact, sometimes they matter more than technical ones.
📚 What Helped Me Grow
Here are some resources that truly helped in my growth:
Books:
Clean Code – Robert C. Martin
The Pragmatic Programmer – Andy Hunt & Dave Thomas
Designing Data-Intensive Applications – Martin Kleppmann
Blogs/People:
Kent C. Dodds
Dan Abramov
Martin Fowler
Open Source:
Contributing, or even just reading other people’s code, taught me so much. It made me realize how much I still had to learn.
🎢 The Reality Check
Yes, there’s a lot of excitement in software engineering.
But there’s also:
Deadline pressure
Late-night production bugs
Meetings. So many meetings.
Impostor syndrome
Burnout risk
It’s not always glamorous. But if you enjoy learning and love solving problems, this career will keep you energized.
🔚 Final Thoughts
Becoming a Senior is not a title you earn overnight. It’s a mindset you grow into.
If you're a Junior, you can start thinking like a Senior right now:
Take responsibility
Ask why, not just how
Share what you learn
Care about the why behind your code
“Be the engineer you needed when you were starting out.”
Good luck in your journey. And if this resonated with you, feel free to share your story in the comments—I’d love to hear it. 🤝
✒️ Written by a software engineer who’s still learning, still failing, and still moving forward.
Top comments (0)