--- title: EP116: 11 steps to go from Junior to Senior Developer description: Tips for becoming a senior developer include learning collaboration tools, mastering programming languages, understanding API development, knowing web servers... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ep116-11-steps-to-go-from-junior-to-senior-developer-2xxh3ptvs twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: EP116: 11 steps to go from Junior to Senior Developer | daily.dev og:description: Tips for becoming a senior developer include learning collaboration tools, mastering programming languages, understanding API development, knowing web servers... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ep116-11-steps-to-go-from-junior-to-senior-developer-2xxh3ptvs og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/2XxH3Ptvs.png og:image:alt: EP116: 11 steps to go from Junior to Senior Developer og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # EP116: 11 steps to go from Junior to Senior Developer **[ByteByteGo](https://daily.dev/sources/bytebytego)** · 4 min read · 1517 upvotes · 38 comments ## Summary Tips for becoming a senior developer include learning collaboration tools, mastering programming languages, understanding API development, knowing web servers and hosting, securing applications with authentication techniques, learning about databases, and gaining knowledge in system design and design patterns. Additionally, AI tools can help future-proof a developer's career. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@ashy** · 50 upvotes >  > > Its too early in the morning for all this... **@darkmoonbg** · 23 upvotes >  > > Really? > > This is just a random list. Nothing helpful. **@robmin** · 19 upvotes > Collaboration tools are a side effect of development. Nobody's going to ask you how to create a meeting in Teams for a senior dev roll. Shouldn't be on the list. > > API development=3, Web Servers and Cloud = 4, Databases=6? What? > > AI tools shouldn't even be on the list either. They're a tool, not a software development "must know". At least the things they have listed there. > > This is a "roadmap" if you throw out practicality and reality. > > 1. You don't need to master CI/CD to become a senior dev. > 2. You don't need learn any of those testing types to become a senior dev. Some will make your life... **@icforever** · 3 upvotes > This article focuses too much on tools. My list for a person just stepping into a senior role would be, > > 1. Starts getting the big picture both on the technical side as well as the business side. > 2. Has their own area of expertise, can be technology or some technical area such as database performance. > 3. Communicates more to improve themselves and also the team/organization. > 4. Owns their task end to end without much help. Can design the whole feature, implement test, deploy and monitor. > 5. This is most important. Starts to mentor others. > > Learn whatever will enable you to do these. Focusing... **@alinouraldin** · 2 upvotes > Best newsletter ♥ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Unveils Schedule for KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Europe 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-unveils-schedule-for-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2026-ikhcoa5cb) · CNCF · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Debuts KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Japan 2026 Schedule](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-debuts-kubecon-cloudnativecon-japan-2026-schedule-xp5pyudub) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ep116-11-steps-to-go-from-junior-to-senior-developer-2xxh3ptvs) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"EP116: 11 steps to go from Junior to Senior Developer","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ep116-11-steps-to-go-from-junior-to-senior-developer-2xxh3ptvs","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ep116-11-steps-to-go-from-junior-to-senior-developer-2xxh3ptvs"},"datePublished":"2024-06-15T15:36:26.592Z","dateModified":"2024-08-23T14:40:56.607Z","description":"Tips for becoming a senior developer include learning collaboration tools, mastering programming languages, understanding API development, knowing web servers...","image":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1200,h_600,c_fill,f_jpg,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F507dbf27-df25-4d96-b09a-0a89e4b27ea4_1280x1562.gif","thumbnailUrl":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1200,h_600,c_fill,f_jpg,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F507dbf27-df25-4d96-b09a-0a89e4b27ea4_1280x1562.gif","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"ByteByteGo","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ByteByteGo","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/35be29234ee14d01a9cd049c52e12753","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/bytebytego"},"commentCount":38,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/ep116-11-steps-to-go-from-junior-to-senior-developer-2xxh3ptvs","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1517},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":38}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ByteByteGo","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/bytebytego"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"EP116: 11 steps to go from Junior to Senior Developer"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ep116-11-steps-to-go-from-junior-to-senior-developer-2xxh3ptvs","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Its too early in the morning for all this…","datePublished":"2024-06-24T07:28:57.761Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2XxH3Ptvs#c-bgvC2cSqt","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashy","url":"https://daily.dev/ashy","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--SBTGLkDl--/f_auto/v1715027616/avatars/avatar_9CGpkpOpsrxrzI78zt6br"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":50}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Really?\nThis is just a random list. Nothing helpful.","datePublished":"2024-06-24T14:56:24.883Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2XxH3Ptvs#c-sZk00LEbr","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Ivan","url":"https://daily.dev/darkmoonbg","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/11695111?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":23}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Collaboration tools are a side effect of development. Nobody’s going to ask you how to create a meeting in Teams for a senior dev roll. Shouldn’t be on the list.\nAPI development=3, Web Servers and Cloud = 4, Databases=6? What?\nAI tools shouldn’t even be on the list either. They’re a tool, not a software development “must know”. At least the things they have listed there.\nThis is a “roadmap” if you throw out practicality and reality.\n\nYou don’t need to master CI/CD to become a senior dev.\nYou don’t need learn any of those testing types to become a senior dev. Some will make your life easier, but you don’t need them. There’s still tons of legacy code that run every day with no tests at all attached to them.\nYou don’t need to learn any of the “Cloud” items to be a senior dev.\n\nMost of these things are what’s used in normal development anyway. Data Structures and Algorithms…you better be learning those WAY before you master cloud crap.\nYou’ll learn system design via experience, but you can still be a senior dev if you don’t know how to DESIGN a load balancer or microservice.\nHere’s a roadmap that’s practical:\n\nLearn everything you need to be able to quickly, and accurately create products for <your company name here>.\nEnd of roadmap.\n\nYou may work at a company that doesn’t use any cloud services or microservices.\nThat company won’t care if you’re the super deluxe master of the universe at AWS and it won’t get you that senior dev position.\nThe graphics for the roadmap are really cool though!","datePublished":"2024-07-12T14:43:48.791Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2XxH3Ptvs#c-C6moW69L8","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Robert Minardi","url":"https://daily.dev/robmin","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--O0TOmw4y--/f_auto/v1715772965/public/noProfile"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":19}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"This article focuses too much on tools. My list for a person just stepping into a senior role would be,\n\nStarts getting the big picture both on the technical side as well as the business side.\nHas their own area of expertise, can be technology or some technical area such as database performance.\nCommunicates more to improve themselves and also the team/organization.\nOwns their task end to end without much help. Can design the whole feature, implement test, deploy and monitor.\nThis is most important. Starts to mentor others.\n\nLearn whatever will enable you to do these. Focusing too much on tech does not help.","datePublished":"2024-09-06T02:17:48.957Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2XxH3Ptvs#c-rqba8wJ2O","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Debjit Biswas","url":"https://daily.dev/icforever","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--CLTgi7yS--/f_auto/v1725116407/avatars/avatar_7UvuwbYBMtt8KEYXTXYYL"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Best newsletter ♥","datePublished":"2024-06-16T10:34:18.104Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2XxH3Ptvs#c-o8ec2kvAU","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Ali Nour Aldin","url":"https://daily.dev/alinouraldin","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/57529627?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}}]} ```