11 Steps to Go From Junior to Senior Developer

1. Collaboration Tools

Software development is a social activity. Learn to use collaboration tools like Jira, Confluence, Slack, MS Teams, Zoom, etc.

2. Programming Languages

Pick and master one or two programming languages. Choose from options like Java, Python, JavaScript, C#, Go, etc.

3. API Development

Learn the ins and outs of API Development approaches such as REST, GraphQL, and gRPC.

4. Web Servers and Hosting

Know about web servers as well as cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, GCP, and Kubernetes

5. Authentication and Testing

Learn how to secure your applications with authentication techniques such as JWTs, OAuth2, etc. Also, master testing techniques like TDD, E2E Testing, and Performance Testing

6. Databases

Learn to work with relational (Postgres, MySQL, and SQLite) and non-relational databases (MongoDB, Cassandra, and Redis).

7. CI/CD

Pick tools like GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or CircleCI to learn about continuous integration and continuous delivery.

8. Data Structures and Algorithms

Master the basics of DSA with topics like Big O Notation, Sorting, Trees, and Graphs.

9. System Design

Learn System Design concepts such as Networking, Caching, CDNs, Microservices, Messaging, Load Balancing, Replication, Distributed Systems, etc.

10. Design patterns

Master the application of design patterns such as dependency injection, factory, proxy, observers, and facade.

11. AI Tools

To future-proof your career, learn to leverage AI tools like GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Langchain, and Prompt Engineering.