My experience as a senior software developer was full of mistakes. So I have learned that the mistakes I make are not even among you.
Today, I’m sharing how you can learn to code smarter so that you can become a senior software engineer quickly. Even if you have a ways to go, this knowledge will help you become better than you were yesterday.
Why become a senior software engineer?
First off, what’s so great about becoming a senior software engineer? Why go through the trouble? In my experience, senior software engineers are trusted to solve harder problems and handle more complexity. Although this can be challenging, it also gives you the opportunity to build something that’s rewarding and impactful. It gives you a seat at the table.
Not only that, but being a senior software engineer gives you the chance to mentor and provide insights to others. Often, it may lead to managing your own group. And, let’s not forget about the senior software engineer salary. On average, senior software engineers make 92% more than junior ones, according to PayScale.
For me, becoming a senior leader changed the trajectory of my career. While I was completing my degree, I landed a senior role at eBay. Not only did I get the role I wanted, but I was also able to skip the junior level. In doing so, I instantly tripled my salary. In that first year, I took seven separate products from ideation to launch, giving me enough experience to get into even higher level roles.
How to become a senior software engineer quickly
If you want to advance in your engineering career, you shouldn’t have to go get a second degree. That’s a big (and expensive) commitment that requires years of your time. Becoming a senior software engineer quickly requires you to read, understand, and have a big picture understanding of programming languages.
How can you ensure you have an in-depth understanding of code? You’ll need to read a lot of code, get a lot of code reviews, and give a lot of code reviews. Spending time with code and gaining feedback from others will help you gain the depth of knowledge you need to move forward.
But giving and receiving code reviews isn’t enough to put you on the right track. Ultimately, you need to gain the ability to build large mental models. This all boils down to loading up more complex systems in your head.
Engineering requires us to hold abstract systems and concepts in our heads via a skill called spatial reasoning. Spatial reasoning is the ability to “generate, retain, retrieve, and transform well-structured visual images” (Lohman 1996). It’s what we do when we visualize shapes in our “mind’s eye.”
In engineering, we use spatial reasoning to create a mental picture or a mental model of how our systems should look. We hold it in our heads. You follow a function call from one file to another. You imagine how data at runtime flows through that picture you created. You transform that picture by flipping it and manipulating it daily.
To get to senior engineer, you need to hold larger and larger systems in your head. You need to add more and more to your mental model. You need to build up a database of things you have seen before.
This is what takes so much time, and it’s what you need to conquer to go from junior to senior engineer.
No matter your background or experience, it’s possible to go from a junior to senior software engineer– just as long as you have a solid, big picture understanding of programming languages.
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