Finding your path forward

A few months ago a friend asked me what kind of skills they should invest in, in order to be a Senior Developer. I thought that was a common yet difficult question to answer.

Throughout my career, I have had the pleasure to work with many awesome developers whom I admire and who were very different from one another, with different sets of skills and styles.

So here's my attempt to answer this question when someone ask, and if you are wondering if this is yet another article, giving advice about what makes a good Senior Developer? Well... no. Instead, I would like to share some ideas I've been developing over the years to help me decide how to move forward in my career. These ideas have been rambling in my mind and generally, I use them in an intuitive way but I have never tried to structure them, this is my attempt to do so in hopes it helps others.

The goal of framing these ideas is so you can use them to make your own version of what a good [insert role] means to YOU!

During our careers we will find ourselves multiple times asking similar questions:

• What skills do I need to become [insert title]?
• Do I want to continue working on this project or try something new?
• Should I continue on the individual contributor track or move to the management one?

Hopefully, this framework can help with a different range of questions associated with career development, ultimately the goal is to find out what is most important to you, what aligns with your values, and what makes you happy.

I wrote about the topic in collaboration with LeadDev. I hope you find it helpful!

Professional growth based on personal passions

Create a career path aligned with your strengths, passions, and values.

LeadDevNelida Velazquez

Photo by Timothy Chan on Unsplash