Making the transition into a managing engineer role begins with setting clear career goals for yourself.
In This Article
What Does a Senior Software Engineer Do?
Becoming Proficient as a Senior Software Engineer
Developing Soft Skills for Software Engineering at the Senior Level
Ready to pursue the next level in your tech career? Moving from an entry-level or junior position into a senior management or leadership position is a worthwhile goal, especially if you’re in a field such as software engineering. For a principal software engineer, the average salary is around $150,000 per year, and the role comes with the opportunity to head a team, mentor younger engineers and developers, and help guide your company along the process of building business applications, operating systems, and other forms of software for end users.
Making the transition into a managing engineer role begins with setting clear career goals for yourself. It pays to plan ahead and make strategic moves as you grow your software engineering expertise, as well as leadership techniques that prepare you to be a successful boss. Here’s what you need to know about stepping into the role of a senior software engineer.
<h2 id="job">What Does a Senior Software Engineer Do?</h2>
Becoming a lead software engineer requires you to rise to a higher level in all the work you do. As a lower-level team member, you have taken on portions of coding for a big project—but as a senior software engineer, you’ll lead entire projects and make strategic decisions about how to bring the software design to completion. You’ll keep in mind the big picture goals of the company you work for, and then translate those needs into technical tasks so your team can create software solutions that align with business targets. And you’ll do all this in the context of managing a team of people and teaching them how to succeed.
Senior software engineers therefore need to excel in a few different areas. You’ll blend an in-depth grasp of software development methodologies, programming languages, and tools with the soft skills required for leading people well, as well as the ability to clearly convey technical ideas in non-technical language to other departments and stakeholders.
<h2 id="proficient">Becoming Proficient as a Senior Software Engineer</h2>
To set yourself up for promotion into software engineering leadership, start out pursuing mastery of the essentials for your role. Aim to understand every aspect of the software development lifecycle, and gain the following skills:
Master Programming Languages and Tools
To be an effective senior software engineer, you must level up your skill set to make promotion to a senior role a logical choice for everyone involved. Start with developing fluency in multiple programming languages and technologies. The more you know, the easier it will be for you to oversee team members at entry-level and mid-level, and it will be simpler for you to troubleshoot questions for any programming language your employer may require.
Take courses and engage in certification programs to build your expertise in the coding languages on which software is built—such as Python, Java, JavaScript, C++, and others. You’ll also need to be highly comfortable with version control systems like Git (to ensure quality) and databases such as SQL and NoSQL. Seek to understand not only the tools, but the reasons behind them, the concepts that rule them—such as when to use certain database systems, branching strategies, collaborative workflows, and other key concepts that help you see the big picture of the software you’re creating.
Embrace Design Patterns and Best Practices
As you evaluate the big picture issues that new software features may create, you’ll head up how the team addresses all the details. This starts at the highest level, with conceptualizing and planning the overall structure and function of a software system. Begin to prepare for that role now by learning how software design works. Learn design patterns like MVC, Singleton, and Observer, and elements of design such as how to ensure a software program is scalable, secure, agile, and modifiable.
As a team manager, you’ll want to understand all the best practices around software design and architecture, so that the systems your team creates operate smoothly from the start. Best practices help to prevent issues such as problematic bugs and security problems that could sink a software solution.
Nurture Your Problem-Solving Skills
As the principal software engineer on your team, you’ll be the place that the buck stops when it comes to challenges. It will fall to you to lead the way in finding solutions to the hardest problems that arise, the ones that junior developer team members may not yet have the skills to handle. You’ll need to be able to proactively develop new ways to mitigate issues and ensure the technology you’re developing runs smoothly.
In addition to working with your team, you’ll collaborate with other tech teams that include DevOps, quality assurance, UX/UI, product development, and more. You’ll likely have to work closely with them all when problems arise. Patience and creativity will be needed, as well as a breadth of knowledge. Prepare yourself for this by learning about a variety of tech skills, including how CI/CD pipelines work, what’s required for effective automated testing, and an understanding of various cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, and GCP.
Prioritize Continuous Learning and Skill Development
So, how do you gain all these skills? First, adjust your mindset to embrace continuous growth. Having an attitude that there is always something new to learn is going to benefit you in moving up to a chief software engineer role. Remember, the combination of your experience and deep expertise is something that sets you up for promotion.
Next, study what you don’t know, and perfect your skills in tools you are familiar with. Aim for expertise and mastery in a breadth of concepts, techniques, and software engineering programs. Realize that new tools are continually coming onto the scene, so you’ll also want to stay abreast of what’s new, understand the pros and cons of those new tools, and be open to learning them.
<h2 id="senior-level">Developing Soft Skills for Software Engineering at the Senior Level</h2>
Technical skills are, of course, only part of the picture. Since senior software engineering roles involve management, you also need to enhance your leadership skills.
Enhance Your Communication and Interpersonal Skills
As you rise to higher level positions within a company, it’s essential to maintain excellent communication skills. You’ll be working with a variety of people, both within your own department, and those in cross-functional roles. To grow in this area, take courses in areas such as conflict resolution and communication. Also, look for ways to get to know people in other areas of the company. Participating on committees, helping out at company picnics, and scheduling coffee or lunch times with different leaders to learn more about what they do are all practical ways to build your interpersonal skills.
By making these connections, you’ll gain valuable insider knowledge about your company and industry. This helps you to see how software solutions integrate with the domain in which you work. Study up on the nuances of your business area, whether that’s fintech, healthcare, e-commerce, supply chain, etc., so your tech skills are grounded in the bigger concepts of how your industry domain functions.
Embrace Leadership Roles and Responsibilities
As the principal software engineer, you will lead a team of several entry-level and mid-level engineers, all of whom need to work together collaboratively to complete projects successfully. You will be expected to mentor those with less experience, guiding them along the path of their career so they can excel on the job.
As you provide effective leadership, you’ll empower your team to do more and function optimally. It will benefit you to develop a variety of leadership skills, such as active listening, coaching, and mentoring; conflict resolution and problem-solving people issues; emotional intelligence and empathy; and related social skills.
Engage in Effective Code Reviews
Leadership in software design includes a commitment to excellence in coding. Senior engineers look for ways to make their software designs efficient and well written, so as to produce optimal results for end users. In a management role, you’ll ensure codes are properly tested and monitored for high performance.
To grow in this area, continue to increase your skills in writing, and more importantly, evaluating coding. Build skills in this area by volunteering now for coding reviews, working on larger scale projects, and even helping with open-source coding opportunities. Take an impeccable approach toward coding now, so that you can encourage that level of integrity and attention to detail in the team you will eventually lead.
Improve Project Management Abilities
Senior software engineering requires you to take charge and manage large projects, and you will be the person who spearheads the work. In this leadership role, others will come to you for direction. You’ll define problem areas and create plans to address them. And you’ll assign portions of the project to the different junior engineers on your team. Embrace the need to document procedures and improve your time management, as both are essential in project management.
Skills in project management can be learned through project management courses—which your company might even assist you with. Agile frameworks for project managing are also handy to understand—so become comfortable using Scrum, Kanban, and similar tools. Volunteering to head up a task or process—either in your department, or as a member of a committee beyond your department—can also provide practical experience in managing a project.
Summing It Up
As you pursue your career advancement in software engineering, aim for excellence and expertise in all you do. Look for events such as a tech meetup, hackathon, conference, and software engineering bootcamp where you can build skills, network, and learn more. Consider pursuing an advanced degree, such as a Master in Computer Science degree, as well as related certifications. Actively pursue improving in any areas that your managers bring to your attention, and let people know you’re interested in progressing to a senior role.
If you’re ready to take your next step in your career ladder, look for open senior software architect roles through inTulsa. Sign up for our Talent Network to stay up-to-date on the latest open roles, and get custom job alerts for software engineering positions.
