How Sonatafy Specializes In Software Engineer Career Paths
Headquartered in the U.S. and with teams throughout Latin America, Sonatafy Technologys Executive Staff and Software Developers offer English-proficient and same time zone services and advice to the entire western hemisphere. That is to say that Sonatafy Technology is an experienced firm in software engineering. For many years now, Sonatafy has been a perfect fit for any company size or shape. For example, the software and technology firm was recently engaged by a Life Sciences firm making a SaaS platform for digitizing the Clinical Trial process. Additionally, another Online TV Streaming Provider recently hired Sonatafy Technology to limit downtime and monitor system performance.
Sonatafy Technology also helps individuals succeed in their career paths by offering software engineers and developers career opportunities. We are a growing software engineering firm comprising individuals who love to help Sonatafys customers succeed in their businesses. Sonatafy Technology features an extremely engaging environment that is also fast-paced, with many specialties collaborating to offer the best experiences for our developers and clients.
Problems With The Traditional Career Ladder
Perhaps the most well-known criticism of career ladders is the Peter Principle, which dates back to the late 1960s. If an employee does well they are promoted. Promotions cease when they are promoted to a level at which they do not do well. As a result, over time, every position tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry it out.
In contrast to the Peter principle, which assumed promotions were granted out of a genuine desire to recognise and reward performance, we have the Dilbert Principle. Coined in the mid 90s, it supposes that promoting the incompetent into management is the most effective way to get them out of the way of the people who do the real work. I.e the developers and software engineers.
In software engineering, and other knowledge-based disciplines, it is a common complaint that there needs to be a way to reward and compensate skilled employees that does not require a move into management. The most typical reaction to this complaint has been to introduce a dual track career ladder. The idea is to provide an alternative set of titles which pay as much as management while allowing an employee to remain an individual contributor.
So what can we do to make engineers feel valued?
Career Development As A Software Engineer
In my previous story, I was more focused on my experience from the early stages of my career. Now Id like to continue sharing the things I learnt as a software engineer around setting career goals and managing self-development.
After the acquisition of our company, the team started to grow, and after almost three years I got an offer to become a team leader for four backend engineers. I had no experience managing a team, and here it was even harder as only a part of the team was working directly with me. Others were working as part of other project teams. However I wanted to become a good leader to all direct reports.
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Alternative Personal Development Options
Apart from upward or lateral movements, there are a couple more options for employees to advance their careers, as outlined by SHRM:
Job redesignJob redesign can either take the form of job enlargement, where more tasks are added to the role, or job enrichment, where more depth is added to the role in the form of planning, strategy, and organizing tasks. While job redesign can be used to add variety and challenge to help the individual grow, job enlargement without job enrichment could dampen employee motivation.
Job rotationJob rotation allows employees to join other teams within the organization, offers them a wider variety of tasks, and exposes them to different perspectives in the company. For managers, rotations can broaden their expertise and prepare them for the next level. However, job rotations may increase an employees workload without necessarily improving their productivity. Successful job rotations require careful planning, open communication, and clear goals for all stakeholders to benefit.
Discuss Your Goals With Your Supervisor
Many supervisors appreciate it when employees are enthusiastic about their professional development. When you discuss your goals with your supervisor, they can provide you with resources like additional training or more freedom on projects. Discussing goals with supervisors also shows initiative, and the supervisor may reward this with an increase in responsibilities.
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What Does A Software Developer Do
Software developers work with machine languages to design and construct programs computers can run to complete complex computations. They develop programs that people use for various purposes, including software programs, operating systems and mobile apps. They can also perfect a specific software or code for an extended period, releasing updates and new features. Software developers work in almost every industry, giving them a lot of choice in their career trajectory.
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A professional is seen working from their computer at a workstation in an office setting.
Get Ready For The Future Now
Whats more it is estimated that sixty percent of all new jobs in the twenty-first century will require skills that only twenty percent of the current workforce possesses. What this means is that you will need to be flexible, adaptable and always be learning and growing in your career to thrive in the future of work. So set strategic career goals in 2021 and set yourself up for success in your role today and beyond!
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Offer People Management And Technical Tracks
To make them stay, we should offer an alternative career path to management. We might offer a technical track where the person tackles more and more complex problems, perhaps from a higher-level perspective than a senior engineer would, while still raising their profile and responsibility within the company.
This track could, for instance, cover technical architecture or solution design. Whereas a manager would lead increasingly larger teams, the equivalent role on the technical path would design and define solutions that the aforementioned larger teams would then implement. To look at Sarah once again, lets say she decided to take a role called junior technical architect over a team lead. In this case, shed likely spend most of her time designing how the more complex features of our product are supposed to work, and how they slot into the overall architecture, instead of leading a team of three to five engineers.
In other words, if the management path culminates in a VP of engineering position, the technical one leads to CTO. Again, not all engineers will eventually become VP of engineering or CTO, but the talented ones should be given the option to choose where their career leads. That choice should be theirs to make, not their managers.
What Goals Should I Set As A Junior/mid/senior Software Engineer
It is impractical to set goals that you do not have the opportunity to explore at your job role. As such, you should have a conversation with your manager about what is expected of you at your level and set your goals accordingly.
Mid-level engineers can look into building their communication and collaboration skills, as you are probably required to mentor junior engineers at this stage. There are also requirements for these engineers to participate in activities that interact with other functional roles: UX design syncs, effort estimation, backlog grooming.
Senior Engineers can focus on product goals so that they can better plan the engineering to match product goals.
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Drawbacks Of This Solution And Mitigations
- If we reach the upper limit implied by this gearing ratio, it may delay opportunity for some ICs who are interested in a Staff+ role because we don’t have an area in which they can exercise enough technical leverage. However, as of Jan 2021 less than half of all teams across engineering had Staff Engineers. This doesn’t suggest we’ll never encounter this problem, but that the current situation accompanied with anticipated growth can allow for more mitigation in a future iteration.
What Is Expected Of A Software Architect
In addition to all the skills of a senior developer, the main separating factor of a software architect is a proven track record of successfully built projects. An architect is tempered by experience, having been exposed to different mentors, architectures, software needs, and operating environments. To name a few of my own: Websites with owners who expect super fast results without understanding the complexity of their requests Banking accounting software that has to be accurate and well-tested even when the testing environment is behind so much security that running a single test takes seven minutes every time … I basically had to run the entire software in my head from start to finish before testing it once Platform-as-a-service database that can be used for small projects and enterprise software easily E-commerce website under high security threat with a skeleton crew of developers Marketing software with six different servers, three databases, four developers, three direct stakeholders, and a very short timeline for delivery.
Lastly, he needs to be up to date with technology. This is the fastest changing field in the world, so being ahead of the curve in terms of new technologies and methods will avoid unnecessary risk and solve problems before they occur.
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The Career Path Of A Software Engineer: How To Get A Promotion
In this article
On top of commanding an above-average starting salary, software engineers can expect regular opportunities to level up in their careers as they gain experience.
While the ladder isnt as straight and narrow as going from law clerk to making partner, after several years of web development experience, you have the clout to ask for a promotion or be headhunted for a managerial position elsewhere.
Your Career Is Your Responsibility
The first and foremost thing to understand is Your career is nobody elses responsibility. If you want outstanding professional growth, then you need to own your career path.
Many people sit around and do their job silently, expecting they will get noticed by their manager. But professional growth does not work that way.
The software industry does not work like government organizations where you move through the hierarchy after a set period. It would be best if you approached your career progression systematically.
Your colleagues and friends can motivate you. Your company and manager can provide adequate support. But the effort required to enhance your skills to achieve the career goals is entirely your responsibility.
In my experience if you want an extraordinary career, you need to perform way better than everyone around you in all aspects.
It helps to be proactive and sincere. Put your effort to deliver much better than your team members. When your colleagues or interlocks need help, never hesitate to assist them.
Taking ownership of your career is the first step towards building an exceptional career.
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How To Achieve An Extraordinary Career Growth As A Programmer
Recently we went through a company-wide survey for the employees.
The common theme that came up in our organization is that people need better opportunities for their career growth.
Doing a bit of research, I found out half of the software industrys workforce is not happy with their career progression. Here are a few stats on the related topic.
The above numbers do not give an encouraging picture of software engineers’ professional growth. So, in such scenarios, what should you do to have an outstanding software development career?
How can you grow faster than your peers and achieve your dream goals?
Here is a seven-step formula if you diligently adhere to them, it will help you have the most extraordinary success as a software engineer. Some of these steps were shared by our leaders who have already achieved big in their careers.
Why Is It Important To Have Career Goals As A Software Engineer
Having career goals as a software engineer is important because it can help you advance your professional development. Objectives allow you to remain aware of the industry’s latest technologies, build your network and develop your technical and soft skills. Companies often favor ambitious software engineers with a commitment to improving, allowing you to obtain advanced positions and increase your earning potential. These benefits can provide personal satisfaction in your achievements and a more comfortable lifestyle.
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How Can I Improve My Software Engineering Career
If you wonder what it might take to go from a junior software engineer to a senior software engineer, the following tips will shed more light on your software engineer career path and help gain more duties and learn faster and better.
- Set strategic software engineering goals.
- Learn how to be a problem solver.
- Practice regular reading and writing lots of development code.
- Increase your abstractions understating and application because the better the abstractions, the more you improve as a software engineer.
- Learn new software engineer technology stacks.
- Practice refactoring and working with principal software.
- Obtain your bachelors degree in computer science.
Growing From Lead To Manager
Weve already described lead software engineers as big-picture managers that might eventually become solution architects. However, leads also have the option to fulfill the more traditional role of management.
What makes leads different from managers? Heres the breakdown:
- A lead is a more technically-oriented person who handles day-to-day software development operations.
- A manager oversees a team of people and establishes guidelines to ensure business needs are met.
While leads typically have a single role, managers can take many forms. For example, a project manager manages a single project for a business, while a product manager ensures that the products a company releases meet customer needs. A manager may also work across multiple teams, with a more extensive management scope.
Managers create the framework that leads must follow to perform regular operations
Managers are frequently confused with supervisors. Although both are figures of authority, they fulfill different roles. Heres the contrast between the two:
- A supervisor oversees the quality of work
- A manager has broad operational responsibilities that include decision-making
A supervisor typically has more technical expertise than a manager. Supervisors need this expertise to spot when someone isnt following the proper procedure.
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How Long Does It Take To Become A Software Engineer
The answer depends on you! The time required to become a software engineer will vary based on your desired academic route. For example, a typical college education, such as a degree in computer science, takes around four years to complete and spreads instruction out across seasonal semesters. The pursuit of a degree is a slow but thorough process, and graduation stands as a notable achievement.
However, if you want to get started with a job in coding sooner and get valuable job experience while you continue to work toward completing the required skill sets of software engineers, you can also consider enrolling in a bootcamp or learning on your own. Most bootcamp courses range from three to six months. During this time, instruction is often quick and intensive, focusing on helping learners build job-ready web development skills as quickly as possible.
Independent learners face the most uncertainty when it comes to establishing timelines. Generally speaking, motivated learners could teach themselves coding basics within a year or so however, this span can grow or shrink according to their self-imposed schedule, availability, and aptitude for independent study.
How To Optimise Career Opportunities
Software engineers have extensive career growth opportunities as the world rapidly adopts digitisation. As competition increases, it is important to continue to upskill and stay on top of the latest trends and innovations to remain competitive.
Set out career goals depending on which route of software development you want to embark on. Sharpening both your hard and soft skills is necessary to stay ahead of the game. If you are wanting to become a CTO one day, then developing your team management and communications skills is crucial, over and above the hard skills required to lead a team.
Alternatively, if systems management is more aligned with your career objectives then focussing more on your hard skills is important.
As you gain more experience and build your career, you could also consider alternative options as a software developer if you decide to branch out.
Whichever path you choose, the benefits of a career in software development are the same.
Benefits of a Career as a Software Developer
- The rate of pay is excellent
- Skills are transferable
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Whats The Best Way To Learn Software Development
There is no right or wrong way to learn software development. While you consider your options, make sure to keep your priorities and goals in mind. Not every path is suitable for everyone and thats all right! Ask yourself these questions as you gauge your options:
- What is my ideal timeline for upskilling?
- How much money do I have to set aside for tuition?
- Would a part-time curriculum work better for my schedule? Can I commit to a full-time program?
- Do I need to keep working as I learn?
Answering these questions may help you make the best determination for your educational pathway. Once you have the training, you can take the next step on your software developer career path.
Lead A Software Development Project
Leading a software development project team can help you gain experience with delegating tasks, managing conflict and conducting quality control. These leadership skills also prepare you to advance to managerial positions later in your career. If you’re interested in leading a project, consider asking your supervisor for a shadowing opportunity. After observing how they organize teams and adhere to budgets, you may lead the next project independently.
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