How to Grow in Any Company and Reach Seniority Fast

I wrote this post in Spanish in 2022 and adapted it to English in 2026.

Ever since I started working in development, I've noticed that in general (judging by what you read around the interwebs and over on Twitter) there's huge anxiety, a tremendous urge, to reach a senior level inside the company.

And the truth is, this mostly doesn't depend on you.

Why?

Because every company measures seniority based on what matters most to it, or on how it values its employees.

What Matters Most When a Company Evaluates Seniority? #

As a general rule, you'll be evaluated on two fundamental things: one, your technical knowledge, and two, your knowledge of the company.

Simple, quick, easy.

Depending on the company, they'll value one more than the other.

However, something I've noticed doesn't get talked about much and gets left aside a bit (not everywhere, and not in every place...)

But anyway, let me stop... how do you say it? DILLY-DALLYING! That's it...

Without further dilly-dallying, I'll say it: your soft skills matter a ton. Communication, leadership, decision-making, how you act under pressure and other abilities like that contribute a huge amount to you as a professional.

Careful: by "working under pressure" I don't mean someone yelling at you and saying ugly things to your face.

Pressure can be a big problem that needs to be solved that same day. That's a pressure situation: a situation that could cost your company two or three hundred users because the problem wasn't fixed in time. So acting under pressure means being able to make the best possible decisions with the information you have available.

Everything I'm listing as soft skills can be worked on independently of your technical knowledge, or your knowledge of the company's product.

What's the Single Most Important Thing When Evaluating Seniority at Any Company? #

If you ask me, first: that you know everything about the product. What does your company sell? How does it make money? Where do employees' salaries come from? Are we profitable? Are we technically bankrupt?

I bet you're wondering, why should I care about that? Isn't that information only the bosses' business?

And you're right, but come on... If you want to be senior and you want a promotion, you're aiming to be a boss.

That's what you need to be thinking about.

Most people think they'll get more money without more responsibility, even for doing more or less the same job.

And no, folks.

If you want more money, the company will give it to you, but at the same time they'll give you more responsibility: you'll be in charge of a team of people, or of decision-making, or both, and so on.

So, so I don't wander off the point I'm making right now: first comes your knowledge of the company's product, second your soft skills, and last your technical knowledge.

Why is technical knowledge last?

Because you can be a rock star at Kubernetes, or a rock star at building containers, or have fifteen years of experience in Python, but if you don't know how to lead a team, you won't get into the range of big responsibilities and big salaries.

To get further, what matters are things like: how are you motivating the team you lead? Are you the kind of person whose leadership comes from fear? (Careful: stay away from building authority through fear. That's terrible, and it's the worst way to lead.) Anyway, the point is that how you express yourself, how you share ideas and how you motivate your team matter much more than the technologies you've mastered.

And so I don't drag this post out any longer, that was the main idea I wanted to get across. Your soft skills will keep you in your job and help you move up, but a lack of them will make you stall, or flat out lose your job. If you want to read more about this, check out this post.

Now go eat or whatever, because this post is over.