Level-up Engineering From Junior to Senior Developer and Beyond: Farhan Thawar (VP of Engineering, Shopify)
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Sep 16, 2020 
In this engaging discussion, Farhan Thawar, the VP of Engineering at Shopify, explores the journey from junior to senior developer. He highlights key differences between the two roles, emphasizing curiosity as a trait of seniors. Farhan advocates for pair programming as an effective learning method and discusses the importance of stretch projects to help engineers discover their true paths. He also shares insights on personal career ownership, the significance of soft skills, and Shopify's mission to ease entrepreneurial challenges.
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Unknown First-Timer Became A Star
- Farhan hired a developer whose first software job nobody on the team knew about.
- That person became an outstanding engineer and moved into data science at Shopify.
Tried Staff Work, Chose Lateral Move
- A senior engineer tried staff-level work for six months, performed well, but disliked the role.
- Shopify moved him laterally to tooling where he regained satisfaction and impact.
The Career Jungle Gym
- Career growth isn't only upward; lateral moves (the 'jungle gym') can deliver learning and satisfaction.
- Try many roles and teams to discover what you enjoy instead of forcing a single ladder path.