Introduction

Back in March 2024 I finished my 4th year working as a software engineer. At the time I was working at Google and wrote a ton of code but I felt stuck in my career.

So I asked a manager what I needed to do to become a senior engineer and he asked me If i’ve ever seen Naruto.

“You know the show where the kid is really lonely in the beginning?”

Sounds like every other software engineer but I wanted to hear how this relates to getting promoted.

Naruto starts his journey on a team with people he doesn’t even get along with. But he gets close to them and eventually learns how to work together.

Then he meets other teams from the same village. They’re not competitors but it takes him time to learn how to work together with them too.

By the end of the show Naruto goes from the world’s loneliest child to being supported by the ENTIRE village.

So what does that have to do with senior engineers.