Getting from junior to senior

The difference in salary between a junior and senior engineer can be orders of magnitude. Many multiples at least. But what's the difference in mindset that gets you there?

I explored that question on two podcast episodes recently.

Scrimba – Advice from a Senior Silicon Valley Engineer

On The Scrimba Podcast with Alex, we talked about what companies look for in junior engineers, how to get hired and grow fast, and I mentioned the most impressive thing I ever saw from a candidate.

"If they can visibly improve in an interview that is someone you want to hire as a Junior." - @Swizec

🔗 https://t.co/Rx6aPeJGyT pic.twitter.com/nxquyP1KXQ
— Alex Booker (@bookercodes) November 10, 2021

Topics

Introduction (0:00)
What employers look for in Juniors (02:32)
What projects will impress employers? (05:01)
The difference between front-end engineer and front-end developer (07:28)
An introduction to JSON bureaucracy (10:57)
How to measure your own ability and skill (14:39)
How Google hire Juniors (20:50)
What Swizec learned from Richard Hamming (23:11)
Swizec's career vision (25:37)
An introduction to the Senior Mindset (28:07)
What Juniors can expect from seniors (29:09)

The Google topic is conjecture on my part. Based on what I've seen and heard from folks working in large enterprises. You hire a bunch of juniors, give them all the tools they need to succeed, and see who makes it. Trial by fire.

Google is better than places like McKinsey and law firms, though. Those have an explicit "up or out" policy 😬

Ruined by a Software Engineer

On Perry's Podcast Ruined by a Software Engineer with Swizec, we talked about the mindset of a senior software engineer, serverless computing, why people love-hate JavaScript, and how to approach writing a book.

NEW EPISODE! - @Swizec, Senior Software Engineer and Author (Tia, https://t.co/ICQdZYsKwv)

• What is a senior software engineer mindset?
• What is serverless?
• How does one start publishing any kind of content successfully?

Listen anywhere: https://t.co/dpqr9UUXL3 pic.twitter.com/taDhg3MBgo
— perry_tiu (@perry_tiu) November 17, 2021

Best part of chatting with Perry is that we met up in person. Feels so much more eventful than yet another zoom call 😇

Topics

Introduction (0:00)
How Swiz got into coding (2:27)
What made middle school coding classes so good (6:35)
Learning how vs why (13:50)
Dropping out of college for freelancing (21:15)
How money comes from value, not work (29:17)
On being a founder (34:05)
My biggest surprise coming into Silicon Valley (41:26)
Consulting, contracting, freelancing, and pricing (44:49)"
Building a team (51:32)
How your role grows on a team (58:29)
How you know it's time to move on (1:05:00)
Why serverless computing is cool (1:08:00)
JavaScript is the bestest (1:16:22)
How to write a book (1:23:50)

Interesting insight about getting into coding – I didn't realize until well into my 20's that programming words mean things in real life. To me a sort was just some specific thing computers do.

Cheers,
~Swizec