What does it take to become a good software engineer at this time?

1 saketlovescode 2 8/27/2025, 12:42:54 PM

The question that has been bugging me a lot is what it actually takes to be a top 1% software engineer. Should I read a lot of OG books and try to implement compilers, databases and languages etc.. Or should I just learn a technology like Java, Python and find a job and just grow in my org and then switch for better roles.

I would love to know perspective of Senior engineers here. What worked for them, how they learned things and mastered it. And, in this world, where AI can just do trivial things for you, how does one get good at anything?

Comments (2)

daviddever23box · 35m ago

People skills are far more valuable than hoarded technical skillsets. Learn to work top-down as well as bottom-up.

linguae · 47s ago

I wholeheartedly agree. It’s not enough to be good on the technical side; it’s also important to be good at interpersonal relationships and understanding the big picture of the organization where one is employed. I’ve found this to be true in both industry and academia.

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What does it take to become a good software engineer at this time?

Comments (2)