Ask HN: What skills does it take to level up to a mid-level dev? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What skills does it take to level up to a mid-level dev?

I've been at my first job for 3 years. Doing fairly basic dev work. I'm starting to look for a new job and I don't think I'm good enough to sell myself as a senior dev, but what would companies look for in a solid mid-level developer?

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In my opinion, the best way to level up as a developer is to start asking 'why' instead of 'how', dive into the source code of the frameworks you usually use, learn how things work instead of just reading the getting started guide and follow tutorials.

Some resources related to leveling up:

Leveling up as a junior engineer: HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14586329 Medium article: https://medium.com/masterpoint/leveling-up-as-a-junior-engin...

What is 1 thing that can take a Junior's career to the next level? HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13744999

Before you look for a new job, go to your manager/boss and say: "I think I'm ready to take on more than I've been doing. What have you got?" That way, you don't have to pass an interview, and you may get mentoring or other company-paid training that can advance your career.

I oversee some junior and mid-level developers. In this person's opinion, based of course on my own experience, traits I most strongly associate with someone becoming a mid-level developers involves identifying issues that have not been specifically brought to their attention; seeing problems coming down the pipe or seeing ways that something they're doing (or not doing) now could cause problems later; seeing opportunities in how we work or what we do that we could take advantage of now for a pay-off later. Essentially, providing useful output in both directions. It's not just being better and faster at writing code. I'd expect a mid-level not to make various of certain classes of mistakes, but not making those mistakes just makes someone a skilled junior dev; mid-level is about seeing beyond the boundaries of the ticket at hand.

We have a pretty good outline on our job description page. It's borrowed heavily from GitLab's handbook:

https://www.level12.io/careers/full-stack-web-app-developer-...

My experience is that there is no difference in such roles apart from how much say you (are willing to) have in decisions.

Especially between Junior and Mid level I'd say the most important distinction is willingness to job hop, to be a bit cynical.

Fix bugs. If you have the grasp enough to fix bugs, it shows a good understanding of development.

Not to say that's all there is, but that is one thing that'd move you out of the novice phase in my opinion.

Senior developers normally have about 10 years of actual work experience. This is normally a long mix of managing program deliverables, other engineers, mastery of documentation for all aspects of the program or programs and the big one is understanding the big picture and asking why, what, when, where and how for engineering, management and personnel decisions goals for the success of programs(these guys generate a ton of profit just by keeping things on task and focused to achieve the goals of the program(s)).

I would focus on three areas:

1.) Start reading source code. If your favourite frameworks are open source, they're a great place to start.

2.) Work on your soft skills (ie - communications, leadership, general interpersonal skills, public speaking etc). At this stage in your career, Toastmasters would likely be a good investment.

3.) It would be extremely useful to get experience taking a project all the way from idea to release. And, the more you do this the more useful it gets to you (particularly if you switch up the types of teams/roles you take on).

> what would companies look for in a solid mid-level developer?

-Given an abstract problem statement she can break it down into smaller concrete pieces & deliver upon them.

-She can anticipate blockers, technical/organizational, and mitigates risk by calling it out / working around it early on.

-Be a quick learner and ready to jump on projects in unfamiliar territory.

Depends on the company. The level of tech skills required for an organisation depends heavily on what the company does, what technologies they're already using, etc. What Google requires for a mid level developer is different from what a smaller, less tech focused company will require.

Work better with others by thinking about what their perspective is on an issue, what's their perspective. It's rarely how can i screw the other person. How can you maintain good relationships with people you work with, even if you disagree.

A lot of time the difference is ability negotatiate a better job... And timing

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