[pyuser583]

I’m self taught. I enjoyed messing around in computers and learned programming.

My first job was as a senior developer. I knew the stack, other devs didn’t, so I had to teach them. I knew how to negotiate. So I started as senior at a big corporation.

I bumped around startups for a while. I’d regularly go from “developer” to “senior”. Then the company would bust. Then repeat.

I’m currently “non-senior” at a unicorn, but have more responsibility than I did anywhere else (unless you include 5 dev shops).

Eventually I’ll hit “senior, for real” where I won’t be willing to go back down.

What I really need is some mentoring (which I’m getting). Making the jump to “senior for real” means getting planning and management skills I don’t have, and won’t get from YouTube.

I’ve benefited from really good mentoring in the past, and plan to do so again soon.