Senior Developer Mindset
How To Get To 100k As A Developer In 3 Years Or Less (Europe Edition)
Are you a software developer dreaming about the magic number? Earning a 100k salary. Maybe you want to retire early to an exotic island. Have a family without worrying about money. Or you want more from life. I am here to tell you that you are not crazy. Getting to a 100k salary as a software developer is doable. You don’t have to be a great coder or have tens of years of experience, and you don’t have to be lucky, though luck can help. You must focus on the right things, stay consistent, and work hard. And you will get there faster than you think.
Dragos Nedelcu·→The Harsh Reality Of Being A Senior Developer (That Very Few Dare To Talk About)
That’s because I genuinely believe every coder should at least reach the Senior Developer level before considering other career choices (like technical leadership or freelancing). But I must warn you that being a Senior Developer is not all roses.
Dragos Nedelcu·→30 Lessons From 10 Years Of Coding
In this article, I will share 30 things I wish I knew when I was a fresh developer just starting out.
Dragos Nedelcu·→9 Hidden Reasons Why You Still Struggle as a Software Developer: and How You Can Fix Them Before is Too Late!
Is not because programming is hard. Or because there are too many technologies out there or because you don’t have enough experience. Understanding that being good at software development is about discipline and not really about coding per se, frameworks or “on-paper” experience, that is hard.For many of you, this is not relevant, unless you are ready to get to the next level as a software developer. Whether it is because you simply want to be better, more confident or you want to make more money.
Dragos Nedelcu·→9 Smart Ways To Stand Out In A World Full Of Coders
It is easier now than ever to become a software developer. Attracted by promises of 150k salaries, remote riches, and a lifetime balance equal to none, everybody wants to be a programmer these days. Coding Bootcamps and Udemy courses are popping out everywhere. Young and old, millions of people are trying to learn how to code in order to improve their lives and income.
Dragos Nedelcu·→The Harsh Reality for JS Developers: If You Don't Study The Fundamentals You Will Be Just Another “Coder”
Three years ago, I faced a brutal truth. Up to that point, I had been writing dozens of lines of code. But, when asked to solve specific technical issues, I often realized I would get stuck on basic things. The harsh reality was I missed fundamental software knowledge.
Dragos Nedelcu·→The Developer Job Market Is Insane 🤯 5 Tips On How To Survive
Have you ever wondered... If software developers are so in demand, why is it so hard to get a software developer job these days?Why the long interview process? Why the hundreds of rejections?Why all the ghosting and the low salaries offered? Today, I will show you exactly what’s behind this mess. How we got here. And why.
Dragos Nedelcu·→Should You Specialize Or Not: Solving A Developer's Dilemma
Maybe the cause of your lack of progress is not a lack of skills. But a lack of balance in your skills. The reality is hundreds of developers suffer from such imbalances. And most don’t even know it. Skill imbalances happen when you know too much about one technology or framework and too little about everything else. Or when you know too many frameworks and technologies but none deeply enough.
Dragos Nedelcu·→5 Things Most Developers Learn Too Late
When I look back at my developer career in the last 10 years, going from Junior to Senior level, to mentoring over 200+ developers helping them get to the next level…And if I only had 10 minutes to share with you everything I learned…I would boil it down to 5 core principles. Five lessons that will dramatically accelerate your growth as a developer to the next level. Keep on reading because in this article I will give you 10 years of experience wrapped up in a few minutes. Let’s start with number one…
Dragos Nedelcu·→How To Become A Senior Developer In 3 Simple Steps
The road you need to take to become a senior developer is long. It is a difference that most developers underestimate — I know I did back in my early days of writing code.
Dragos Nedelcu·→Why I Stopped Using AI as a Senior Developer (After 150,000 Lines of AI-Generated Code)
I used pretty much every AI tool and model out there – from GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Windsurf… yes, even DeepSeek and Gemini. At first, it felt like magic.
Dragos Nedelcu·→How Senior Engineers Navigate The Current Job Market: 4 Tips To Stand Out
You sent thousands of applications, but no one called you back. You went through long interview processes to get ghosted at the last minute. If you are a developer looking for a job right now, you are on a tough ride because the game has gotten harder and harder.
Dragos Nedelcu·→"Vibe-Coding" Influencers Are Ruining Your Life
Coding was never the bottleneck. It’s the easy part. Getting users is the hard one. Keeping them, even harder. To do both those things, you need totally different skills than coding. That’s the bottleneck.It’s marketing. It’s sales. You can code an MVP in a weekend using ChatGPT. Cool. But guess what? Nobody will pay you for an MVP these days.
Dragos Nedelcu·→5 rules for Senior Dev life (how to do more with less)
Here are 5 rules I follow every day as a Senior Dev to make the most out of my day... And no, they don't involve getting AI to code for you.
Dragos Nedelcu·→To Every Developer Close To Burnout, Read This
Today, I will share a Senior Developer’s perspective on burnout and six things you can do right now if you feel burned out as a developer to get your career and life back on track.
Dragos Nedelcu·→Get To Senior Developer Faster By Avoiding 9 Mistakes Every Developer Does
I’ve been a developer myself for over 10+ years. I’ve coached hundreds of developers. With many of them reaching the top 10% in terms of career level and salary. For years, I thought about what it takes to become really successful in software development. It doesn’t matter if you want to make a lot of money or simply master your craft. Most developers want the first one and, later in their career, the second one. Here are 10 mistakes you want to avoid if you want to achieve massive success as a software engineer, whether you want to make more money, get an important title, or build your own tech company.
Dragos Nedelcu·→5 Crazy Things To Get Your Developer Career Unstuck
Are you feeling stuck? You’ve been writing code for a while but you feel like by now you should be a bit further ahead in your developer journey? Are you sick of traditional advice like doing more online courses and side-projects? Or wait a few years to get more experience? You’ve also probably been told that the solution for you to get to the next level is some new library or framework you haven’t heard of. But deep inside you know the answer cannot be that simple. Today I will share with you 5 things that might seem either crazy or common sense. Regardless, they will take your developer career to a whole new level. These principles boil down 10+ years of experience writing code. They have nothing to do with your tech stack. But everything to do with your overall success as a developer. When put in place correctly, they will help you reach technical mastery and get your career to a whole new level.
Dragos Nedelcu·→How Developers Can Survive AI: 3 Hidden Skills To Become Irreplaceable
In this article, I will show you exactly what those skills are. You will also learn how to leverage them in your everyday life so you become irreplaceable no matter how smart ChatGPT and Github Copilot will become.
Dragos Nedelcu·→3 Programming Myths That Keep You Stuck, Frustrated And Underpaid
Ever since you started coding you’ve been conditioned to believe certain myths about being a developer that are ruining your career. It is why you suffer impostor syndrome and doubt your skills. Keeping you stuck at the same level, frustrated and underpaid. What’s worse, these beliefs are so embedded in our everyday lives as developers, that we take them as gia ven. We don’t question them because we think they are the reality. When in fact, they are just myths perpetuated by the community. Myths that haven’t been debunked yet. Partly because they sound good, on paper. In reality, they are dangerous biases holding you back from getting out there and building the kind of future you deserve. In this article, we will debunk those myths one by one.
Dragos Nedelcu·→What Is Really A Senior Developer: Core Principles
In this article I will show you exactly what a Senior developer is, how they behave and how they think. I will do so by sharing timeless principles Senior developers adhere to. Not tips, nor tricks.
Dragos Nedelcu·→12 Senior Developer Traits Junior Developers Need To Master
The fastest way to get to the top in any field, whether it is arts, sports or software development is to study the people that are already at the top… And do what they are doing that you are not. If you write code for a living, this means taking a look at Senior Developers. It means identifying what skills, habits, and traits they possess that you don’t. After spending thousands of hours in the last 3 years working with top-notch Software Engineers worldwide, I found out that there are 12 Senior Developer traits that you can put in place right now to fast-track your growth to the next level.
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