Hard Work Isn’t the Problem, Misplaced Effort Is

For years, developers have been told the same thing:

“Work harder. Put in the time. It’ll pay off.”

And for a while, that advice does work.
You learn faster. You ship more. You build confidence.

But then something strange happens.

You keep working hard…
and your career stops moving.

This is usually the point where people start questioning themselves:

Am I missing a skill?

Am I not technical enough?

Do I just need to grind more?

In most cases, the issue isn’t effort.
It’s where that effort is being applied.

The Quiet Shift No One Explains

Early in a developer’s career, effort and output are tightly coupled.
You learn → you build → you get rewarded.

At higher levels, that relationship changes.

Impact starts to matter more than output.
Judgment matters more than speed.
Reducing risk matters more than heroics.

But no one sits you down and explains when the rules change.

So people keep playing the old game…
and wonder why it stops working.

Senior Roles Aren’t About “More”

Senior engineers aren’t evaluated on how busy they look.

They’re evaluated on:

• how they reason about tradeoffs
• how early they surface problems
• how much trust they create for the team

That’s not something you unlock by working longer hours.
It’s something you unlock by thinking differently about the work.

A Deeper Breakdown

Watch: Stop Trying Be a Senior Developer - Do This Instead

Most developers are told to work harder to reach a senior position.

That advice works… until it doesn’t.

In this video, I break down what senior developers are actually evaluated on, and what to focus on if you want to level up without burning out.

👉 Watch the video here:
https://youtu.be/if9nUIZvNBs

Final Thought

If you’re working hard and not seeing movement, don’t assume you’re failing.

You may just be optimizing for the wrong signal.

Sometimes the next step isn’t more effort,
it’s better judgment.