[prattcmp]

Knowing how to code and knowing how to build scalable architecture and infrastructure are two very different things. Its pretty well understood that if you know a few of the most common programming languages, which it seems like you do, then you can learn others. And theres also a massive wealth of developers around the world willing to work for (probably) less than you. Where you can shine as an experienced developer is in knowing how to avoid many of the problems that arise from building for scale and building complex systems.

Of course, you can read a lot about software architecture and building scalable systems, but the best way to improve is to actually work on those systems at whatever level you can. Get your foot in the door with people building systems that serve hundreds of thousands to millions of customers. If you’re having a hard time doing that, build something on your own purely for the sake of proving that you understand the challenges of building complex software systems and software at scale. That way, when you go into an interview, you can say “yeah, I integrated a sharded multi-cluster DB with worldwide CDN endpoints and full management control.” (This quote is mostly jargon, but hopefully you get the idea) As a dev, DON’T WORRY about if people actually use what you build. Worry about how it’ll help you communicate your skills when you talk to people and interview.

Hope this helps. P.S. I’m a PM with a background in CS and I work with a lot of devs at many levels in a large tech company.