DEV Community

Cover image for From Junior to Senior Developer: Essential Skills You Need in 2024

From Junior to Senior Developer: Essential Skills You Need in 2024

Balraj Singh on October 14, 2024

You’ve got a solid foundation as a junior developer. You know your way around the code, and maybe you’ve even shipped a few features. But when you’...
Collapse
 
thevediwho profile image
Vaibhav Dwivedi

This was truly much needed post. The world is moving so fast, especially in Tech.

Collapse
 
balrajola profile image
Balraj Singh

So true, glad you liked it!

Collapse
 
taqmuraz profile image
Taqmuraz

People who have life are tired running to just keep up with guys who live in computers.
Slow back, let us enjoy living. Or we end up living in the world where job requirements are too high for people with 50+ years experience

Collapse
 
davidsaldua profile image
David James Saldua

Great post thank you for this idea!

Collapse
 
balrajola profile image
Balraj Singh

Glad you liked it!

Collapse
 
sirelli profile image
Jerount

That's good advice, thank you for your effort!

Collapse
 
balrajola profile image
Balraj Singh

Glad you liked it!

Collapse
 
mexikode profile image
MexiKode ⚙

many old devs that only use 1 framework think they are seniors for having 10 years coding, but actually they have 1 year experience 10 times

Collapse
 
taqmuraz profile image
Taqmuraz

15 years ago you was senior if your code does work. Why do we increase requirements? What for?

Collapse
 
webjose profile image
José Pablo Ramírez Vargas

This is 100% untrue. Senior have always been people that not only write code that works, but code that is performant, concise, easy to read and understand, and documented. Where do you get the idea that seniors only needed to get the job done, no matter how sloppy? This has never happened.

Thread Thread
 
taqmuraz profile image
Taqmuraz

Mister, I worked with seniors and I know how they code. I don't mind if what you say would be true. Probably, we have different understanding of a good code.

Thread Thread
 
webjose profile image
José Pablo Ramírez Vargas

Ok, so you probably work with self-proclaimed seniors that just because they've coded for 5 years they think they earned the title.

Thread Thread
 
taqmuraz profile image
Taqmuraz

Mister, build your arguments on something provable or falsifiable, or you don't know how to argue.

Thread Thread
 
webjose profile image
José Pablo Ramírez Vargas

I don't see a problem with my argument: There are people out there that think time (experience on the job) is what make a senior. This is only true if time is well spent. Maybe you don't know how to read English?

Collapse
 
jc2024 profile image
John Chris

Awesome advice✍🏾

Collapse
 
balrajola profile image
Balraj Singh

Thanks!

Collapse
 
westtan profile image
westtan

Hello, I am the operator of servbay. I feel that your articles on techniques are very good. I would like to ask you to write some articles for us. Could you give me an email address to contact you?

Collapse
 
sevacloud profile image
Liamarjit Bhogal • Edited

I think this is a great article and covers a lot of ground, but lacks a little practicality. A junior Dev couldn't read this and implement everything and just become a senior.

The most important point for me that I think you've missed is 'Make mistakes and learn from them'. That is how you become senior on all your points above. Try, fail, retry. You get paid the big bucks for the mistakes you've already made. Because you won't make them again.

Further, from my experience building worldwide systems with infrastructure as code, seniority is also about being able to write code that others can use easily. If I build a system, it will likely outlive my tenure. It is therefore a signature of my work. Someone else will come along and have to refactor or extend and I want that to be as easy as possible for them, using effective coding best practices.

To summarize, you could add the following practical advice:

  1. Make mistakes but learn from them. Don't make the same mistake twice. Document and admit failure and teach others so everyone can learn (comes into mentoring)

  2. Implement and use coding best practices to keep your code readable and easy to maintain.

Collapse
 
mechiuw profile image
matthew diamonda

The important thing is to improve the code quality and reduce complexity in simple matter. Having a bulky and complex code is just unmaintainable and very costly for time efficiency in debugging. By making it more simple, your performance jumps and can help with your team when handling the code

Collapse
 
llamalemon00 profile image
Pognat

I’m so happy to see an element in business being covered. When I have mentored in the past, I taught not just business but the art of sales. It’s not the product the student was selling, it was their skills and ability to “find” the problem and already have the solution outlined.

Wonderful article

Collapse
 
ryichk profile image
Ryo Ichiki • Edited

@balrajola
Hello! I am a software engineer in Japan.
Thank you for your excellent article!
I would like to translate it into Japanese and share it on Zenn, an information-sharing community for engineers in Japan, is that OK?
If you don't mind, I'd appreciate a word of comment.

Collapse
 
orlein profile image
orlein

What a great post. I should share this post to my colleagues.

Collapse
 
rahulgithubweb profile image
Rahul Kumar Barnwal

Amazing blog post. Thanks for sharing

Collapse
 
prayagahire profile image
prayag-ahire

Man it is mind blowing thanks for this

Collapse
 
mahmoudessam profile image
Mahmoud EL-kariouny

Amazing article thank you 😊

Collapse
 
anshumeena1947 profile image
Anshu Meena

Thank you for your wonderful post. really helpful.

Collapse
 
vindhya98 profile image
Vindhya

So well explained!!

Collapse
 
aavash_parajuli_72 profile image
Aavash Parajuli

Bookmarking this for future reference .

Collapse
 
philip_wasem_fe32a1e2ff00 profile image
Philip Wasem

This is the reality i needed and I've gotten, thank's @balrajola, remain blessed for this information.

Collapse
 
tawaru profile image
Wataru Matsumoto

I can only thank you for writing exactly what I am thinking!
Thank you!

Collapse
 
arnoldddev profile image
Arnold

This is really good. That part about emotional intelligence should be taken very serious.

Collapse
 
babyjoseph profile image
Joshua Limpiado

This is some inspiring post you have!

Collapse
 
halchester profile image
chester htoo

Great post, thanks for this!

Collapse
 
barocsi profile image
barocsi

imagine telling this to a real estate dev lol

Collapse
 
senopaul profile image
Senopaul

clarity at its peek. Thanx

Collapse
 
hectorw_tt profile image
Hector Williams

Can you go from mid-level to senior in 6 months?

Collapse
 
paul_fidelis_9ee01bb79eb7 profile image
Paul Fidelis

Helpful and recommendable 👏

Collapse
 
chauhdry profile image
Ahmad Chauhdry

Great advice

Collapse
 
oazevedolucas profile image
Lucas Azevedo

Very good post!

Collapse
 
konbon3 profile image
Goldberg Andy

thanks its a good read.

Collapse
 
colin_kemp_57c9db19c41c41 profile image
Colin Kemp

Tweaking me at the next level, there is so much more to do

Collapse
 
foridul_islam_ profile image
Foridul Islam

Actually very helpful post

Collapse
 
bilal_mughal_393c6ed62e81 profile image
Bilal Mughal

informative post, Thanks for sharing valuable information.

Collapse
 
satyajit_rajbanshi profile image
Satyajit Rajbanshi

Nice content

Collapse
 
rizkyalam profile image
Alam

Great advice

Collapse
 
ssh_row profile image
Rohit Bajaj

Thanks:)