Noob to Senior SWE in 1 year

[@beaticulous]

Me and my friend were hired to create "a simple distributed public chat system X (not the current X)." After a year the business idea behind it collapsed, but we had finished the features about 95%. In later jobs when confronted with challenges, we repeated time and time again "X did it", because we had done similar things while solving the X. We did it basically for food, but leaped so much further in skill. Being young and stupid teaches a lot.

[@killaknut]

I wouldn't anchor on that 1 year, but yes I believe your approach is correct. Actually write real software E2E by yourself and you will have no choice but to learn it all. Lastly, the senior label doesn't mean much. It varies by company and I have met many seniors by title who I wouldn't trust with any critical code.

[@markjivko]

I stated in the video that the 1 year mark is more of an approximation, same as the "10k hour rule". Your best bet is to probably create 2 or 3 such projects from scratch to become a "true senior SWE". I too have encountered many people who I like to call "senior seniors", earning that badge by the passage of time rather than meaningful personal strides. Not all seconds are created equal.