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Ask HN: How do you move up the career ladder being a senior developer?
3 points by vcool07 on Nov 20, 2021 | hide | past | favorite | 4 comments
I'm employed at one of the big software giants as a senior engineer. Life has been good so far, except that a sense of job stagnancy is creeping in. I talked to my manager about promotion and moving up the ladder to take on more complex projects, and he said that moving from senior to upper levels is not easy, and irrespective of skillset it takes time and patience (plus the usual take ownership yada yada, most of which I'm already doing).

I'm almost 40 and there is like an ocean of people in the same boat as me (in my current company), many of them with half my experience. So, I feel like completely stuck on how to get ahead of the pack.

I've taken full ownership of decently sized projects (in terms of complexity/scale), with hands-on execution, leading the team all the way from design to the production deployment. I've tried giving team wide presentations on tech topics, took part in hiring drives and so on, but nothing seems to make any difference. I've also tried applying to other teams within the company, but they are ready to take me at my current level, but not for a higher level.

I often see people reaching the positions of architects/tech fellows at these large companies at just 10-12 years of experience, and I fail to understand what exactly did they do right. Is it all about luck/being in right place at the right time ?

There's the obvious solution of moving to a different (albeit much smaller) company, but I like the work life balance, tech stack we use and some other perks the company provides. So, trying to see what I can do here before giving up and moving on to a different company altogether.

Any/All helpful comments is highly appreciated. Thanks in advance !



Communication skills are key at the upper levels.

How well do you do with small talk?

Look for opportunities to communicate and network. Always be helpful and positive with people. Even if it means helping someone with an issue they are having in Excel.

Do you talk with product managers or others on the business side?

Have you mentored junior developers?

Do you help in the requirements analysis side and interface with BAs?

Do you read quarterly earnings statements and understand the direction and key items mentioned?


Deliver, on-time, consistently. Exceed expectations for quality of execution. See things through end-to-end instead of staying within your silo; anticipate challenges across the entire process and deal with them effectively. Make sure your contributions have impact, and that they are recognized.

If you do all of that, and you still don’t rise in the ranks, leave: it’s them, not you.

On the other hand, if you are okay with not being promoted, then stay. Your employer correctly gauges that promotion is not needed to retain your services. Or they feel that they could live without your continued contributions.

If you are committed to staying, they don’t necessarily need to know that. You could get an outside job offer and see if your current employer counters. How badly do they want to keep you? Or you could switch to another team within the same company which is willing to take you on in a leadership or leadership track role.


I haven't fully read through this so I can't provide any direct insights; however, https://staffeng.com/guides/ may prove to be a helpful resource for you. It's a site/book regarding the career path for engineers beyond the senior level.

It contains stories as well as guides and in particular there are two sections that stand out regarding your situation: *Getting the title where you are* and *Switching companies to get the title*.


You are probably very qualified to be a senior/leader at one of the thousands of non-huge software companies. Unsure if your comp would go up in the short term.

Also, I feel there’s nothing wrong with staying in a lane if you’re comfortable there and there’s a business need for it.




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