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Issue 498 mid senior engineer blog (#510)
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‎_posts/2025-06-10-mid-senior-engineer.html‎

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---
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layout: post
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title: "Mid-Senior Engineer: A Journey of Self-Discovery"
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date: 2025-06-10
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author_name: Irina Kamalova
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author_role:
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blurb_img: /assets/images/blog/2025-06-10-mid-to-senior-engineer.png
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blurb_img_source:
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description: |
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So, you've mastered the fundamentals, you're a reliable contributor, and the "Mid-Level
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Engineer" title feels comfortable. But the ambition to grow, to take on more responsibility,
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and to reach that coveted "Senior Engineer" status is bubbling beneath the surface. You're
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not alone! The journey from Mid to Senior is a significant step in any tech professional's
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career, and understanding the available pathways is crucial for strategic advancement.
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category: Career-progression
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---
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<div class="text-justify">
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<p>
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<i>So, you've mastered the fundamentals, you're a reliable contributor, and the "Mid-Level
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Engineer" title feels comfortable. But the ambition to grow, to take on more responsibility,
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and to reach that coveted "Senior Engineer" status is bubbling beneath the surface. You're
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not alone! The journey from Mid to Senior is a significant step in any tech professional's
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career, and understanding the available pathways is crucial for strategic advancement.</i>
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</p>
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<p>
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I suggest to look at two strategies following the chart:
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</p>
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<div class="article-media">
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<img class="img-fluid" src="/assets/images/blog/2025-06-10-mid-to-senior-engineer.png"
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alt="mid-to-senior engineer chart">
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</div>
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<p>
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<b>Path 1: Get a promotion within your company </b>
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<ul>
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<li><b>Goal: </b>Get a promotion within your company. </li>
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<li><b>Plan:</b></li>
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</ul>
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<ol>
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<b>
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<li> Align your goal with your manager.</li>
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</b>
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<p>
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This is the first and the most crucial step. Unless you come to the person who is responsible for your promotion
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and ask for it there's no sense in preparing a plan with steps, enrolling in certifications for promotions, and
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getting more projects on the plate without any advice.
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</p>
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<b>
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<li> Set up exact steps with your manager.</li>
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</b>
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<p>
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From the first step, you should learn what you need to do: where your gaps are, where your strengths are, where
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your weaknesses are.
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</p>
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<b>
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<li>Execute those steps</li>
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</b>
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<p>User SMART technique for each step. </p>
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<b>
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<li>Ensure recognition across teams.</li>
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</b>
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<p>It's crucial for promotion to be visible inside your company. The more you help others, the more scope you touch
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and your knowledge increases. </p>
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<b>
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<li>Work for the review & feedback. </li>
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</b>
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<p>The important point is to know exact dates where reviews and promotion windows inside your company are happening.
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Your review date is your hard deadline.
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<b> ● Outcome (if your goal is not yet achieved): </b>
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</p>
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</ol>
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<br>
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<ol>
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<div>
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<b>
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<li>Gather the feedback and create an actionable plan from it to close gaps.</li>
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</b>
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All those steps gave you an amazing experience. How could you do better? What is left for the next time? Through
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several iterations you're guaranteed to get the promotion. However, it could be from 2 to 5 iterations with a
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feedback loop.
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</div>
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<b>
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<li>Go from 1 to 5 from the previous block again.</li>
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</b>
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<ul>
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<li><b>Outcome (if your goal is achieved):</b> Promotion to Senior Engineer. </li>
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</ul>
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<b>Pass the Interview to obtain the Senior position </b>
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<ul>
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<li><b>Goal:</b>Pass the Interview to obtain the Senior position.
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</li>
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<li><b>Plan:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>
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Apply for the interview.
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</li>
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<li>
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Ask HR what stages and how to prepare; ask for feedback in advance.
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</li>
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<li>
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Prepare for the interview.
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</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li><b>Possible Outcomes:</b>
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<ul>
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<li>
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Obtain the role in a company with a quicker feedback loop and get the promotion there.
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</li>
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<li>
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Analyse the feedback and apply for the next interview. (This outcome loops back to the "Plan" stage for passing the interview).
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</li>
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<li>
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…and, of course, obtain the role of Senior Engineer!
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</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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</ul>
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</ol>
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<p>
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A couple of months ago, shortly after I released my fourth solo mobile game project on the Google Play Store, I
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texted an old coworker of mine. He replied, “Oh, I didn’t know you were also a developer!” And I immediately tried
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to convince him that I wasn’t. “I’m not a developer! I just… make games in my spare time. I learned it myself, but I
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have so many things I don’t know. So, I’m not a developer,” I said, almost defensively. And he said, “Well, I’ve
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never released any games, so there’s a lot you know that I don’t, and a lot I know that you don’t.” And that
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conversation bugged me for a while. What makes a person a developer? Certainly I, an English major, couldn’t be one.
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But I wanted to prove to myself why that was so.
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</p>
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<p>
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After thinking long and hard about my excuses, and carefully separating myself from people who are “developers”, I
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came to the conclusion that I had lots of gaps in the most basic things that any “developer” would know
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instinctively. The thing is, I knew some of the terms I didn’t understand, but the biggest problem was that I didn’t
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even know what I didn’t know. And that’s when I decided to join the mentorship program at Women Coding Community. In
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our first session, Rajani successfully identified my gaps and suggested how I could improve them. She also told me
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how important it was that I already had complete projects. She gave me what I couldn’t give myself - an honest,
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experienced outside perspective. I had always been extremely self-critical, always focusing on what I lacked. With
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her help, I managed to just stop and look at how far I’ve come, and appreciate the things I’ve accomplished. She
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suggested that I take an algorithms and data structures course, which I did from various free online sources, and I
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already feel much more comfortable.
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</p>
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<p>
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Now, the great question: should you follow both paths simultaneously? It's up to you, however, the balanced model
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will be to go through Path 1 for a year and if you've not succeeded go through Path 2 for the next year. The
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iterative approach will lead you to the goal. However, the common trap for engineers is to try to do both paths at
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the same time and it leads to burnout. One path can be the background while the other is the focus. Regular
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interviews wouldn't hurt but be mindful of your time and remember that they were in the background path when you've
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got a rejection.
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I wish you the best of luck on your way!
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</p>
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</div>

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