L8 Explains The Leap From Junior To Senior Software Engineer

Ever wondered what it takes to become a senior software engineer? In this video I’ll share with you what I wish I knew when I was getting started.

0:00 Intro
0:35 What is a senior engineer
2:13 The mindset of a senior engineer
3:10 The skillset for solving problems
7:58 Outro

[yexijiang]

Great video again! Two things to add:
1. Prioritization. It is a relatively subjective activity. The goal is to maximize the outcome (e.g. quantifiable progress) within the pre-defined time period. The same priority on the same sets of projects may be considered good or bad depends on the culture of the company/organization, e.g. moving fast vs. laking the long view. Typically, projects are prioritized on a quarterly or 6-month basis, to align with the cadence of the earning report. Infra or new initiative may have longer horizon.
2. Probably the step of defining the measurement is before the prioritization, as the priority of a project is largely proportion to its anticipated quantifiable impact.

[darrenfinch]

This video is actually golden. I think a lot of people incorrectly assume that senior developers just know how to code more effectively. Instead it has way more to do with being able to lead other developers towards a solution. As you said, as the senior, you're typically the one to both come up with solutions to ambigious problems and prioritize those solutions so the dev team knows what to work on.

[AskSebby]

Awesome video and glad to see audio improve! A few other interesting topics:
1) Real/perceived culture differences across FAANG
2) Typical workday at different levels
3) Pros/cons of Seattle vs. Bay Area for big tech
4) Perception of coding bootcamps (as an L8)
5) Pros/cons of big tech vs. startups

[sidforreal]

Started my SDE career a year ago. Will be following you for a bit of great advice.

[linonator]

Straight to the point and no fluffy sugar coating. Great video pal!

[dopoqiu]

Thanks for sharing all these information, it opens up a new perspective on how I can manage expectations from my current level and moving on to the next level.

[gabrielfono]

I really love this video.
It is been a year since i started working as full stack engineer at booz allen hamilton .
I recently took a leap to help new onboarding devs to setup their environment.
It wasnt easy but i have learnt a lot how hard it is for senior devs to help others.
Thanks for sharing

[sumukhapk]

This is some gold, this channel should blow up soon! (I’m working at Microsoft as an SDE1 :))

[depressingpenguin]

It would be great if you could talk about compensation, how to negociate, leverage, do's and don'ts, job hopping vs working for promotions long term, etc.

Once we're able to get to that promotion how to actually leverage our talent to maximize compensation, resources to understand how fair market value, etc

[ianruntu]

Great content Kun! Please keep posting and keep helping us!

[Candyapplebone]

Hey man, this was really helpful. I have been trying to become a senior engineer myself. It turns out I’m actually doing almost everything you described in this video. No wonder my boss said I’m basically already a senior engineer. Help to have u enumerate all these different things though.

[McBritish]

I would love to hear more about prioritization & delegation!

[asagiai]

Just an opinion. (Senior Software Engineer and everyone else opinions are probably have different.)

#1. When you get a problem. Your first thinking should be the possibility of solving the problem. Not all problems are solvable.
if a problem is unsolvable. Suggest other thing that may have been better.
Then just then think of different solutions.

#2. The other problem with brainstorming is the lacking of actual brain / idea for that matter. This is why sometime individuals should be proactive, or opinionated or like what they do.
And people becomes like that if some person can help them to the right way.

[safakozdek]

Can you talk about what to expect from your manager and what to look for when choosing a team if someone is looking to climb career ladders fast?

[pedromarques]

I'm mid and I've worked recently with a Senior Engineer and he clearly lack the ability to influence my decisions. He was so much more experienced than me and he knew I was wrong but as long as I used compelling arguments he let me have my way with no opposition. Since he was right, the project had exactly the complications he said it would have. I always wonder, if he defended his ideas, instead of being quite the project would have been much smoother.

[catwhisperer]

A senior engineer doesn't ask how to do something and instead asks why we are doing it that way.

[rafacancode]

Lovely, my only issue is with measuring or quantifying outcome while working on a start-up finding the time to do those nice things is impossible, even though is needed otherwise boss comes saying you've done nothing

[explorerb]

Great video!

Are there some particular videos you would recommend on situational leadership?

[JuanHernandez-uhrs]

Make a top tier list of companies for software engineers

[anali]

Can you talk about the different branches in Software Engineering? like data engineers, DevOps, security, game development, etc. Do all these advices apply in general to all of them or there are specific details to consider depending on what you're working on?