[Posting from Throwaway account]
I’m in my early 30s, and I’ve been working as a developer for around 5 years now.
I started my career in 2020 as a hybrid mobile app developer (Dart-based framework). I landed a decent job, built some really good apps, and a few of them became quite successful—one has 100k+ downloads on the Play Store, and some apps I worked on have 10k+ daily active users. I also did some local freelancing and delivered apps that made clients genuinely happy.
From the outside, it sounds fine. But honestly, I feel like I’ve been an “accidental senior” my whole career.
There was never anyone senior to guide me properly. Nobody really taught me software engineering practices, system design, clean architecture, or even many basic concepts. Most of what I learned came from trial and error, debugging, and just somehow making things work.
A funny (and embarrassing) example: back in 2021, when my first big project launched successfully, I proudly posted about it on LinkedIn. Someone commented asking what state management I used. I got completely confused because… I genuinely didn’t know what “state management” even meant at that time.
Yeah, I’m kind of a peter griffin in real life too.
By the end of 2024, I started feeling frustrated. I wanted to move into one of the "Nami dami" BD tech companies like BS23, Therap, or Vivasoft because I thought maybe there I’d finally get proper mentorship and grow as a real engineer.
Instead, I got a remote job (Alhamdulillah), and honestly, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. My PM and teammates are genuinely strong engineers—people many of you probably know by name. I thought, “Finally, this is where I’ll learn.”
But the irony is, from day one, I was assigned to a legacy project that needed to be rebuilt. I handled it, and now I’ve basically become the keeper of that project. Most of my time goes into maintaining it, so I’m not really learning anything new or growing in the way I hoped.
As for salary, Alhamdulillah, it’s still better compared to many local BD job conditions, so I’m grateful for that. But the increment was much lower than I expected, especially when I compare it with friends at a similar experience level who are earning significantly more.
I’m not saying this only from a money perspective. It’s more about comparing where I stand professionally. Since I don’t feel like I have strong enough skills to demand more, salary becomes one of the few ways I measure whether I’m actually progressing or just staying stuck.
So in 2025, I started thinking maybe backend is the better path.
I keep seeing backend-focused job descriptions with better salaries, and honestly, it feels more aligned with what a “real software engineer” should know. Spending all these years only on the mobile side feels like it cost me a lot.
For example, until recently, I didn’t even know how to properly build a REST API. I’ve learned some basics in the last few months—mostly CRUD stuff—and with AI help I deployed a bookkeeping-type project. But if you ask me what’s really happening under the hood, I honestly can’t explain it clearly.
Now I even see junior backend roles and think: they’re offering half my current salary, but maybe if I join and learn properly, I could surpass that within a year.
So I’m here for honest advice.
As you can probably tell from this post, I feel like I’m behind. I’m a CSE grad, but if you ask me to explain bubble sort right now, I’d probably need to Google it first. Constant use of AI tools has also made me weaker instead of stronger in basics. Recently, my reading block, anxiety, and burnout have been hitting harder and harder.
I want to fix this.
I want to prepare for a proper career and become a proper engineer—not just someone who somehow ships things.
Where do I start?
How did you guys build your foundation?
I’d really appreciate honest suggestions, especially from people who’ve been through something similar.