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Junior Engineers, Avoid This Fake Growth Trap

  • A lot of earlier-in-career engineers believe that being a better software engineer is all about coding: If you can write more good code faster, then you are growing.
  • This is generally mostly true in the beginning, but then it quickly becomes a toxic way of perceiving growth.
  • You will hit walls. There are only so many hours in a day, and you can only type so many lines of code per hour.
  • As a senior engineer, you need to focus on multiplicative and deeper behaviors.
  • If you are able to have the impact of a senior engineer but are working extremely long hours, you are essentially "faking" the appearance of a senior engineer. This working model is not sustainable, and once you burn out, it's a terrible situation for everyone.