Main image of article Becoming a Senior Engineer Isn't Just About Code

What exactly is a senior engineer? Is it someone promoted through length of time, or maybe just someone promoted because they’re very good at their job?

You’ll find companies where both are true. Bigger companies, though, will be more likely to have clearly defined career paths including salary ranges and responsibilities. But first let’s look at what a senior engineer is.

Summary

This is one of those things that you’ll recognize when you see it but have trouble pinning down the details.  Let’s try. Senior engineers have lots of technical experience: they understand the technical problems well enough to explain them to non-techies, can draft specs, and come up with a design. This requires in-depth knowledge of risk management, timelines and, sometimes, budgets. If you thought this sounds like the job of a project manager or at least some of the tasks they do, you wouldn’t be far out.  

A senior engineer looks at the who, what and when while a project manager focuses on the how and why. With experience in a senior engineer role, your next job might be as a project manager. The best project managers have come up through this career path, and the worst ones have little or no technical ability.

At an intermediate level you’re given a task, and then it’s up to you to solve it based on your experience and technical knowledge. A junior developer will usually need a lot more detail, but you should know enough to figure out what to do. You should also be seeing how this task fits into the company’s business strategy. 

Here are some ideas to improve yourself technically.

  • Understand the business model. It can be surprisingly complicated and sometimes quite quirky. One way to help is finding yourself a mentor. They can reveal opportunities, problems to solve.
  • Look for initiatives. This means seeking out solutions to medium to large problems, identifying the risks involved, and breaking down complex tasks so junior developers can work on them.
  • Technical debt can also be a useful place to start. Many companies just let it pile up, promising to tackle it "someday," but that day never seems to come.

But most of all, you need to have a very good grasp of the technologies used and how they all fit together.  If there are gaps in your knowledge, work on filling them in. You won’t be ready to move up until then.

Although senior engineer is a technical role, getting there will most likely need you to get involved in company politics.

This is an unpleasant truth for many technical people. As your career progresses upwards, there comes a time when technical ability alone isn’t enough. This is true across many organizations, both in business and elsewhere. For instance, the military, the police and even religious organizations are all political at the highest levels.  

Here are some non-technical tasks that you need to carry out.

  • Building influence
  • Aligning technical work with business goals
  • Use strategic reorgs to progress
  • Be visible.

Let’s look at these.

Start by working on your presentation skills. Get rid of the “ums” and “ahs” when speaking

You need to build a network of colleagues across different departments and levels. This is easier said than done. Share knowledge with them and try to become the ‘go-to’ person for the less commonly used technologies.  This is an ongoing process, and you need to keep your network “in the loop.”

It can be worth it to ask senior colleagues how they got to their position.

You’d think that the two would be naturally aligned, but when you’ve been down in the long grass of development, it can seem a long way from the customer’s needs. Most technical jobs are not client-facing.  Spend some time with customer support, or better yet, with customers. This will give you firsthand experience of the problems that customers are having.  

The best chance of getting a promotion is during corporate reorganizations or when new projects are created. You must be ready for them, so lean on your network for a heads-up. This could give you an advantage. “I hear you’re thinking of developing a team to do X… I’ve spent the last few months looking at X and have some thoughts on the subject based on recent research…”

This one I cannot emphasize enough. You need to be seen by those above you for all the right reasons. Be the one who brings projects in on time. Speak up in meetings and come prepared with insights or thoughtful questions. You want to be an active participant not a wallflower.  Keep a list of achievements and bring these up in one-to-ones.

I’ve worked at a couple of companies where there was a technical career path as an alternative to going into management but the principles I’ve mentioned here still apply.  Career progression involves politicking.  Also, start as early as you can. Network building takes time.

And if, despite all your efforts, you aren’t making the progress that you were expecting, then think seriously of dusting off your CV and jumping ship.