I have exciting news that I would like to share with you! I am launching a newsletter - Path to Senior - to give software engineers more insights on navigating their careers in tech.

How I started my blogging journey?

I began writing about my software engineer career in 2019 when I started working at Disney+, the streaming service for Disney, Hulu, and ESPN.

I felt like I wasn’t growing the way I wanted to. It was my first time working in a fast-paced, high-tech environment. I was inexperienced with the Scala functional programming paradigm and overwhelmed by the endless amount of new things I had to learn. Thus, I wanted to commit time outside work hours to self-study technology and grow as a software engineer. Writing was a way to verify my learnings - by teaching what I learn to others (to you), I can absorb my knowledge and learnings better.

I was also perplexed about how to climb the tech career ladder. Thus, I wanted to share my insights about working in the technology industry with other aspiring software engineers worldwide.

Fast forward three years later, I received numerous feedback from engineers worldwide about how my blog has assisted their journey with Scala, functional programming, and navigating their technology careers.

One reader emailed me about a bug they encountered when decoding Circe and that my posts helped them to learn Scala and unblocked their task. Another reader emailed me expressing that my article on (how your title doesn’t matter) made them feel hopeful about their current career situation in being down-leveled as a Software Engineer.

Why am I creating this newsletter?

I want to build a guide on leveling up to a Senior Engineer by sharing my experience and challenges in growing a successful technology career.

Being familiar with certain technologies isn’t the only criterion for being a good Software Engineer. Engineers must know how to handle trade-offs, move the project forward, and deliver effectively. When I started my career, I thought the goal was to collect knowledge and learn about the latest programming technologies. However, as I progressed into a Senior Engineer role and mindset, I realized that team collaboration and creating an efficient system for my day-to-day tasks are keys to effective delivery.

If one engineer can gain practical insights and resolve challenges from this newsletter, it has served the purpose.

What will this newsletter entail?

• Actionable Insights: how to become a high performer and evolve in your career from Software Engineer to Senior SWE and Senior SWE to Staff Engineer in a high-growth technology environment.
• Programming Language Gotchas: tips and trade-offs on how to write (functional) software in a maintainable way.
• System Design: approaches software engineers should consider when a project requires scalable system design.

How often will I publish this newsletter?

Once a week. I may publish bonus articles if I have additional bandwidth outside of work that week.

If you received this email, you were automatically added to the newsletter mailing list.

If you want to learn about a certain topic, please submit any requests through the feedback form. If you have any feedback, I would love to hear it; you can submit it through the feedback form.

Every single one of your questions and comments motivates me to continue sharing my journey in the hope that it can help other software engineers in their careers. Thank you so much for your support!