So, you are a middle developer. Moving from the status of a junior developer to the middle was not difficult. However, it seems as if no matter how much you try, you cannot become a senior developer. Moreover, you frequently feel that the projects aren’t as attractive as they used to be, and the joy from completing even the most challenging task has gone.
Why so?
Going from an Individual Contributor to an Engineering Manager is NOT a promotion
In my role as an engineering manager, I know making the leap from an individual contributor (IC) to engineering manager (EM) is not a promotion. Instead, it’s a different career track. What we are discussing here is a fundamental difference in terms of the responsibilities of the roles. What you do as an engineering manager versus what you do as a developer is fundamentally different. There is a possibility that you might not write code altogether. A promotion means continuing to do the same thing, while being paid more to do it. Becoming an engineering manager means transitioning to a different role with different responsibilities. In other words, a separate career track.
First, let’s break down our target audience into two groups. One group who is transitioning into engineering management. And then, the second, folks who have been made engineering managers recently. For those who are still considering, this decision could be made due to a couple of factors. It could be tenure-based, it happens in many companies where you are the senior-most engineer, or you have spent a fixed amount of time. The company or the team believes that you're ready for managerial responsibilities, asking you to make the switch. This is a more traditional track that we see. Alternatively, there's a more interest-based approach that you could be even at a mid to senior software engineer level.
Writing a Resume with Core Competencies
A good job seeker would spare no effort to keep his recruiter reading his resume a little more than six seconds. He, just like you, would treat the core competencies section as crucial as the professional summary and career objective in his/her resume.
Additionally, adding effective resume core competencies would help your resume pass the ATS scans and other resume examining bots. Next are the best ways to incorporate core qualifications in your resume!
Becoming a Senior Engineer, The Third and Final Article
It has been years since I last updated my series on career growth for engineers. You can view the two original parts here and here, but I’ll summarize each as part of this third, and I think the final article on the subject (though I reserve the right to later change my mind).
These previous articles represented my own journey to date, and in attempting to summarize my observations and successes I found a large audience of people looking to do the same. This article is both a summary and extension, a synopsis and synthesis of my new experiences, now almost four years after I published the original article.