Episode description

Software engineers, like any other person can get stuck. Their personal development slows down, their career may not move in the direction they want to go to.

Great engineering managers and leaders can do a lot to stop that from happening, facilitate growth for their developers and advancement from junior engineer to the senior level and beyond that. Get the know-how from Farhan Thawar, VP of Engineering, Shopify!

In this interview we're covering:

• Differences between a junior and a senior engineer
• The best way to level up coding skills
• Potential career roadmaps in software development
• A manager's methods to develop the career of their engineers
• A company's options to facilitate professional development
• Creating a career plan in software engineering
• Motivating developers to keep honing their craft
• Incorporating soft skills training

Excerpt from the interview:

"I was talking to one of our senior developers about a promotion. The next career level from there is either staff engineer or engineering manager. This person was interested in the staff engineer route.

We figured out that to move up the ladder, this person at this time needed to have an impact beyond his group. Helping with building software for Shopify in a broader context is the job of a staff engineer. So this person shifted focus toward that.

We checked in again after six months. He was doing well, and he was about to receive the promotion, but it turns out that he didn’t enjoy the staff engineer work. He saw how it would broaden his skills, how he’d work with other groups, and he didn’t want to do that.

Here's what we did..."

Click here to read the full interview!