🚀 How to optimize for career growth - Engineers who win know this is holding them back

Struggling with career growth? Optimize your workflows, shorten feedback loops, and focus on small wins to accelerate your progress as a software engineer.

Want to grow your career faster? It’s not about chasing "big break" moments.

The most successful engineers don’t wait for perfect conditions—they build tight feedback loops and iterate rapidly to create them. Career growth isn’t about grand, one-time efforts. It’s about compounding small, smart improvements through continuous learning and iteration.

If you keep operating within the same flawed system, no amount of effort will lead to real progress. Just like in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, where Stephen Covey emphasizes sharpening the axe before cutting down trees, you need to focus on improving how you work rather than just working harder.

In this post, we’ll explore why system optimization beats brute force, how small wins lead to major breakthroughs, and the practical steps to refine your workflows for long-term career success.