I am currently evaluating many steps in order to further my career. I am currently working as a Fullstack Developer but I want to prepare myself to become a Senior Fullstack developer. I have so many questions right now (Career-wise, not related to code). How can I find a mentor or coach to answer these questions?
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1Why not ask at your current work about getting on senior track?– Aida PaulCommented Sep 1, 2023 at 17:45
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No option for mentorship at the moment. Another brilliant way to basically say "figure it out yourself" -_-– XanathosCommented Sep 1, 2023 at 18:36
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3I mean, why not ask a different question: what will it take for me to get to the senior level, and then work from that list? What did they say? Generally there's no such thing as mentors directory, either find someone at work paid to do it, or really, well, do what most seniors do - grow there yourself. Big part of that is being able to independently figure stuff out, ironically.– Aida PaulCommented Sep 1, 2023 at 20:03
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1I did ask to senior members. Actually it's kind of funny, they do not know how they became senior themselves, as they did not went up the ladder, they landed the job. There was a strong filter they overcame and landed it. Their advice? "Get some certifications and pass interviews". I mean, I am working on it, but still, feel kind of lost.– XanathosCommented Sep 1, 2023 at 20:25
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2"Senior" is not well-defined across companies. Find out what attributes your company believes a Senior Whatever must possess/display (your manager should be able to help you answer that question) and work on developing those. Some of them may simply require more experience.– keshlamCommented Sep 1, 2023 at 22:02
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2 Answers
There are basically three methods for finding a mentor or career advisor.
- Through your school that offers such
- Through your work (usually informally, occasionally formally or through a union)
- Hire one (but you will of course be taking the chance of wasting your money).
Advancing within your current organization is independent of advancing your career, and will frequently be at odds with it. Your organization typically only needs one head waiter, CFO, or architect.
What you need to do to advance at your current employer is going to be specific to them, nobody can give you specific advice on that without knowing more about your organization, more than can be fit into a SE question.
One thing to add: unless they already have a position in mind for you, and are just waiting for some event before offering it to you, it’s probably not going to happen unless you are willing to leave if it doesn’t.
You can advance by getting certified and gaining experience. If you treat your work as a serious endeavour in regards to learning and excelling at your tasks then you naturally advance over time as people know and trust your abilities.
This means watching how the more senior people both handle problems and solve them, one strategy I used was to analyze how they do it, then try and work out a better way.
Getting certifications can fast track the process.
