You’re already a senior dev — maybe even in a leadership role. You don’t make rookie mistakes anymore. You know your tools, you understand architecture, you can guide the development process with confidence.
But that doesn’t mean you’re error-free.
In fact, your mistakes can easily have a higher cost than those of juniors — not because of code, but because of thinking patterns and team dynamics.
Here are some of the traps many senior developers fall into 👇
1. 🔧 Over-attachment to one technology
You’ve found The One True Stack™ and now everything must be built with it. Sure — you’re supposed to prevent hype-driven rewrites from juniors… but are you actually open to change yourself?
✅ Instead: experiment on side projects, re-evaluate choices periodically.
2. 🕹️ Excessive control
When you feel like every PR must go through you, and even minor decisions need your blessing — you unintentionally cap the team’s growth.
✅ Instead: delegate ownership. Good enough > personal perfect.
3. 🔍 Nitpicking in code review
Turning code review into a stylistic exam kills learning and slows everyone down.
✅ Instead: focus on correctness, clarity and maintainability first.
If you often find yourself dropping dozens of tiny comments in every PR — I used to do the same. I wrote more about it here:
👉 https://dev.to/sylwia-lask/i-used-to-leave-50-comments-in-every-code-review-heres-why-i-stopped-5a6f
4. 🚧 Becoming the bottleneck
If nothing moves without you — you are the blocker.
✅ Instead: empower others to make decisions without waiting on you.
5. 👑 Acting “infallible”
Automatically dismissing suggestions or never accepting feedback on your own code leads to stagnation.
✅ Instead: model humility and openness. Great seniors say “let’s explore.”
6. 🏠 Treating the app like your personal craft project
Architecture should serve users, not your ego. If you want to tinker for fun — that’s what side projects are for 😄
7. 🛟 Saving juniors too quickly
Instant rescue robs them of learning how to think through a problem.
✅ Instead: teach the process of unblocking, not just the answer.
8. 📞 Always mentally “on call”
If every Slack ping pulls you off your work, you lose focus and energy.
✅ Instead: set expectations: “I’ll get back to you in ~20–30 minutes.”
9. 🕒 Giving feedback too late
You see something going wrong but postpone feedback “to not block progress” — and then rework doubles.
✅ Instead: early course correction beats late rewrite.
10. 🤐 Pretending you always know
Senior ≠ omniscient. Saying “I need to check” builds trust, not weakness.
✅ What great seniors actually optimize for
| Great Senior Focuses On | Instead Of |
|---|---|
| Enablement | Control |
| Learning loops | Policing |
| Clarity & direction | Micromanagement |
| Team velocity | Personal heroics |
| Trust & autonomy | Centralization |
🧩 Quick self-checklist
Ask yourself:
- If I disappeared for a week — would the team still move forward?
- Am I reviewing code to help, or to enforce my personal taste?
- Are people learning, or just routing questions through me?
- Do juniors feel safe making decisions?
- When was the last time I changed my mind?
✅ Final thought
Being a senior developer is no longer just about writing great code — it’s about helping other people write great code.
Your real impact is measured not by how many decisions you make, but by how many decisions others feel safe making without you.
Which one of these have you caught yourself doing — and what helped you break the habit?
Top comments (18)
Great summary!
Sr devs who minimize these traits become real mentors and leaders. This applies in just about any discipline. We have to understand how we learned through trial and error and how our mentors and leaders helped us along the way before we can truly be good mentors and leaders ourselves.
Absolutely — well said 🙌
Real seniority isn’t about avoiding mistakes, it’s about growing past them and then helping others shortcut the learning curve.
The shift usually happens the moment you stop thinking “I must prove I’m good” and start thinking “How can I help others become good too?”. That’s when leadership becomes natural, not positional.
Great thoughts!
Thanks! 🙌 Glad it resonated — which part landed with you the most?
The part about nitpicking in code reviews - totally relatable! I’ve been guilty of that before! Focusing on clarity and maintainability instead makes so much sense.
Totally — I think most of us go through a “nitpicking era” before we realise it slows more growth than it creates 😅
The moment you shift from policing to enabling, code review becomes mentoring instead of friction.
Just a question (THE question): are you a senior developer? ;)
Yes — and I’ve made most of these mistakes myself first 😉
That’s why I know them so well.
I did too! And I think that every senior developer did at least one of them, once…
Exactly — I don’t know a single real senior who didn’t fall into at least one of these at some point. Most of us learn them the hard way :)
Awesome post!
I loved it
Happy to hear that — thanks for reading! 🙌
So well written — these are the real “invisible mistakes” that separate seniors who lead vs those who block. The shift from control → enablement is gold. Thanks for sharing this reminder! 👏
Thanks! 🙌
Exactly — the turning point is when seniority stops being about ownership of code and starts being about ownership of outcomes and people. That's where real leadership begins.
That is pointing & even mocking a Senior Dev.🙆🏻♂️
Definitely not mocking — half of these are things I’ve done myself 😅 It’s more of a reminder than a criticism.
Lovely piece. I hope to be a senior developer 😀
Careful what you wish for 😅 — but if you keep growing with curiosity and empathy, you’ll be one of the good seniors for sure!