How to Advance as a Software Engineer

Most people in tech believe career growth is all about getting better at your craft. And don’t get me wrong- skills do matter. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: It’s not just about how good you are. It’s about who knows how good you are. Some of the most talented engineers I’ve worked with stayed stuck in the same role for years, not because they weren’t skilled, but because no one outside their immediate circle knew the impact they were making. Meanwhile, others who actively shared their work, spoke at events, collaborated publicly, or mentored others; they became the names that came up in rooms they weren’t even in yet. That’s what visibility does. For me, building visibility has looked like: 🤝 Sharing what I’m learning- not just what I already know. Posting takeaways from AI research papers, experiments with new tools, and real-world lessons from building systems. 📱Posting behind-the-scenes of projects, including the messy drafts. Sharing wins is easy. Sharing your process builds trust. 🎤 Speaking at meetups, podcasts, and panels Every small talk leads to bigger rooms. It’s all about building reps, and getting more people hear your thoughts. 📚Turning complex technical ideas into simple frameworks. Think: diagrams, cheat sheets, carousels. If people can learn from you easily, they’ll remember you. 🌎 Collaborating publicly and giving credit. Tag teammates, mention mentors, share lessons learned together. Visibility is not a solo game. 👩🏫 Mentoring early-career professionals. Teaching makes your knowledge visible, and it pays forward the support you once needed. 📝 Documenting your journey authentically. Not just “look at this big launch,” but “here’s what I learned this week,” or “here’s where I’m stuck and what I’m trying next.” 👥 Being active in the community- both online and offline. Whether it’s commenting on posts, joining Slack groups, or attending AI meetups, showing up consistently makes a difference. It’s not about becoming a “thought leader.” It’s about becoming someone people remember when opportunities come up. Because at the end of the day: Skill × Visibility = Career Growth If you’re already learning, building, and solving problems, start showing it ❤️ That’s how you grow beyond your current role.

Remember when we thought being amazing at coding was enough? Yeah... I learned the hard way that wasn't true. If you're wondering why your Python skills aren't getting you promoted, let me share what I wish someone had told me earlier. Being great at tech stuff is just step 1. Here's what actually got me promoted 3 times in one year: 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭 – 𝗕𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗻 • Finish projects on time • Learn how your team's "hidden rules" • Be known as someone who gets stuff done 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮 – 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 • Figure out what's needed before your boss asks • Understand why you're doing each project • Say yes to tasks that stretch your skills 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯 – 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 • Connect your work to saving money or making money • Learn how your company actually makes a profit • Explain your results so anyone can understand 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰 – 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗼 • Make friends with people in other teams • Share what you know with others • Help new people learn the ropes Here's what I figured out: Most smart data people stay stuck because they think better code = better career. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀. To move up, you need: Good tech skills + Business impact + People skills. Work on all three at the same time? You'll get promoted while others wonder what they're missing. Stop being the smartest person who never gets ahead. Start building the complete skill set that actually gets you promoted. Follow me, Jaret André for real, practical career advice that actually works.

I’ve been promoted 11 times in 20 years at 6 companies Here’s how I did it: 1. Eliminate entitled expectations and patiently play the long game 2. Be truly exceptional in your current role - don’t underestimate how long it takes to achieve mastery 3. Clarify and communicate your long term career goals including your ideal next step  - it is not up to your manager or anyone else to do this for you 4. Demonstrate you can do the next role by taking on key responsibilities of that position - you don’t need to ask permission to solve important business problems 5. Make your manager’s life easier, become indispensable to them and seize learning opportunities to take projects off their plate 6. Lead by example by exuding optimism, assuming positive intent and helping others, especially through challenging times 7. Don’t complain and only talk about problems, design and implement solutions that drive real results 8. Act like an owner and don’t let your current job description hold you back from doing what is required for the business to be successful  9. Respond to inevitable disappointment gracefully and don’t give up  10. Choose the company and evaluate the hiring manager wisely - a great company and an invested manager are two key ingredients to create the conditions for career advancement My biggest lesson 20 years into my career: The promotions are great but don't feel as good as you think they will - focus on the journey and the process, that's the good stuff #personaldevelopment

10 things I wish I could tell my younger engineering self. That would have accelerated my career by years. 1.Technical excellence alone won't get you promoted. Visibility matters as much as ability. Document your wins, communicate your impact, and make your contributions visible to decision-makers. 2.The team you join matters more than the company. Great managers accelerate your growth. Toxic ones stunt it. Choose your boss, not your brand. 3.Being the smartest in the room is overrated. Making everyone around you smarter is what creates real impact and recognition. 4.Learn systems, not just languages. Technologies change yearly. System design principles last decades. 5.Code reviews are career opportunities. They're not just about catching bugs. They're chances to demonstrate how you think and influence architecture. 6.Most career growth happens between 5pm and 9am. The side projects, the learning, the networking - these after-hours investments compound dramatically. 7.Clean code isn't about aesthetics. It's about empathy for those who will maintain it after you're gone. 8.Career capital comes from solving hard problems. Seek out the challenges everyone else avoids. That's where your value multiplies. 9.Relationships determine opportunities. Technical communities, not just technical skills, create career options. 10.Your mental health is a technical requirement. Burnout isn't a badge of honor. It's a systems failure that compromises your most valuable asset - your mind. I can't go back in time. But maybe you can avoid these lessons the hard way.

Trade up on your skill set: One of the things I’ve done very well in my career is to leverage my existing skills to step into a role that would offer me the opportunity to learn new technologies of interest. I offer something I’m very good at in exchange for something I’d like to learn or achieve. Let’s walk through some examples: To land my first SE role, I traded my deep knowledge of bioinformatics pipeline development for an SE job where I could learn deeper software engineering concepts and software development in an engineering team. To get promoted, I leveraged the skills I learned + the knowledge I had about on-prem HPC to learn about deploying a robust system in Azure where our compute could be elastically scaled based on need. Then, I leveraged my deep experience in bioinformatics software engineering to land a role on a team doing bioinformatics on GPUs. The team needed someone well versed in bioinformatics, who was also a software engineer with HPC experience. There I was able to learn GPU development and CUDA / C++ from experts. After some time, I was able to leverage the knowledge I had gained about GPUs + existing knowledge about HPCs to land on a team needing this experience, where I could learn about ML deployments and kubernetes while providing technical insights about the GPU and HPC setups. The advice here is to take time to get very good in a domain, and then trade that experience at a place where you can leverage it, but also learn something new. I’ve found that learning to do your job is the most effective way to learn. It’s accelerated because you: 1. Have knowledgeable people on the team to learn from 2. Spend most of your day working on the thing you are learning (not small windows after hours) 3. Have to do it to get paid This is a pathway to keep expanding your skills and broadening your marketability. It not only solidifies knowledge in one area, but also keeps that brain building new neural connections. It’s scary at first, but once you realize you can do it, the opportunities are immense. #softwareengineering #learning

Despite a rocky start as a software engineer at Google, I was able to compensate for 2.5 years of career stagnation with 2 promotions within one year, followed by becoming a Tech Lead. How did I do it? I took charge of my career and doubled down on my self-management skills. In the workplace, self-management is one’s ability to solve problems independently, show self-awareness, and operate autonomously. For optimal career growth, you still need to self-manage even if you have a manager. Managers don’t have the time or energy to handhold everyone. It’s not a scalable management strategy. When you self-manage, you're not only lightening your manager's workload but you’re also positioning yourself to receive more strategic and high-level guidance. That way, instead of discussing tactical things you can figure out on your own, you and your manager can spend your precious 1-1 time talking about where your career is heading, and how to get grow and get to the next level. The skills needed to self-manage: 1/ You can manage your timelines and deliverables 2/ You can make decisions independently 3/ You find the drive within yourself to start and keep going 4/ You can deal with your emotions in stressful situations 5/ You handle most conflicts on your own without needing to escalate 6/ You don't need your manager to give constructive feedback to others 7/ You build and manage your stakeholders 8/ You own your career development To read my story and learn more about how to build each of these skills, read my in-depth explainer: https://lnkd.in/dppGXpja