This developer created a practical guide to help you become a senior developer

This is part 2 of a series of articles for programmers looking to upgrade their skills. Part 1 took us through the beginning stages, where we set out to find the most efficient way to go from zero to an employable developer. Today, we are going to take things further.

This article is for all developers, coders, and programmers who are looking to make a jump in their career after working in the industry for a few years (or for those just starting out but would like to see their possible career path).

This is for those with a simple desire: You want to be considered a senior developer and want to excel in your field. By the end of this article, you’ll have a set path and a list of resources to help you level up and become a senior developer. Woah! Bold statement. Hope I got you hooked. Let’s dive in.

Disclaimer: This is not meant to be the only way. But it is a method that I’ve discovered in my own career and through many conversations and interviews with people I consider senior and respected programmers in the community.

What do we want?

We all strive to be better at our jobs. While the specifics of that statement is up to the individual person, most people can agree on a few things:

• We don’t want to be seen as incompetent
• We want to be respected by our coworkers
• We want to feel smart and accomplished
• We want to feel appreciated

In order to achieve the above, we can’t just rest on our laurels and expect things to come to us. Especially in the world of programming, where the technology is always changing and the amount of information available is overwhelming, we want to focus our attention on growing and learning without burning out. With more developers coming out of colleges and bootcamps, we need to keep our skills sharp. The way to set yourself apart is to be smart and efficient when learning.

What is a senior developer?

No, being a polyglot who can code in 10 different programming languages and build your own version of Jarvis does not make you a senior developer (although you’re very talented).

Being a senior developer means bringing an incremental benefit to the table, making people better, having a long-term vision, and delivering and consistently producing business value.

You can know all the cool functional programming techniques in the world, but if you’re unable to communicate well with your team or focus on delivering actual value to a customer, you’re not a senior developer. What value you bring to your company/startup/business is what’s important. If you’re one of the few people who can bring value in huge orders of magnitude to your company or business, you are a senior developer.

Got it. How do I become one?

This is the section all of you have been waiting for. (Or so I’m imagining. Maybe nobody reads this, in which case I’ll just keep talking to myself.)

Follow the below resources and spend some time learning about each topic. I call this the “Developer’s Edge” because there’ll always be people with more experience in a field. But if you can work smarter and more efficiently to accumulate different combinations of skills, you can set yourself apart.

These are the six core skills you’ll need to be considered a senior developer.

1. Technical skills

This is usually the first skill that comes to mind. Hopefully, you’re convinced that this is a small slice of a much larger pie at this point. Don’t get me wrong, you do need this skill and you can’t fake it. However, you can be smart about what you focus on.

One final thing

Conclusion