Senior Dev English — Newsletter Archive | English for Software Developers
I help non-native software developers communicate like seniors — so they get promoted faster. Every week: one practical English upgrade for your emails, Slack, PRs, and salary conversations. Read past editions below. Subscribe to get the next one.
How to Rewrite Your Developer CV to Pass the 6-Second Recruiter Scan — With Formula and Examples
There is a six-second window between your CV landing in a recruiter's inbox and them deciding whether to read further. Most non-native developers fail that window. Not because their experience is insufficient. Because their language describes presence rather than contribution — and presence is forgettable in six seconds. This guide gives you the formula that fixes it, with five complete before-and-after rewrites you can apply to your own CV today. The fundamental distinction A CV can be...
Why Your Slack Messages Are Holding Back Your Promotion — And the Exact Phrase Upgrades That Fix It
Most non-native software developers have a gap they do not know about. Their code is senior. Their written communication is not. And in the room where promotion decisions are made, written communication is often the only evidence available. A manager who receives "still working on it" from a developer has no information to advocate for them with. A manager who receives "in progress — 80% done, on track for Friday, one blocker: waiting on design sign-off" has evidence of someone who is...
The Code Review Phrase System That Protects Relationships Without Compromising Standards
Most developers give technically accurate code review feedback. Many of them are damaging their team relationships while doing it. Not because they are wrong. Because being right and being useful are not the same thing in a code review — and the difference lives entirely in the words used to deliver the feedback, not the judgment behind it. This is the phrase system that closes that gap. How the problem starts Code reviews happen under time pressure. A PR lands in the queue. The reviewer...
How Senior Developers Communicate During Production Incidents — The Exact Formula
Most developers prepare for production incidents technically. They know how to roll back a deployment. They understand the monitoring tools. They have runbooks and playbooks and documented procedures. What almost nobody prepares for is what to communicate — and when — while the technical work is happening. That gap is where most incidents become significantly worse than they need to be. Two developers. One Friday. The same failure. It is 4:47pm. The release went out thirty minutes ago....
How Senior Developers Write Slack Messages Differently From Juniors — With Examples
Most non-native software developers write Slack messages the same way they learned to write formal English — with context first, conclusion last. In academic writing that structure is correct. In professional engineering communication it signals junior thinking to everyone reading it. This is not about English level. It is not about confidence. It is about one specific structural pattern that separates how senior engineers communicate from how junior engineers communicate — and it is...
The Salary Negotiation Framework for Non-Native Software Developers — With Exact Phrases
Most non-native software developers lose €10,000 to €20,000 in salary negotiations before the conversation even begins. Not because they lack the skill to justify the number. Not because the market will not pay it. Because they say the wrong sentence when the interviewer asks: "What is your salary expectation?" What most developers say — and what it signals "I'm flexible." — signals: I do not know my value. "Whatever is fair." — signals: Please anchor for me. "I'm open to your budget." —...
7 Email Phrases That Make Non-Native Software Developers Sound Senior
Most non-native software developers write emails that are technically correct. But they sound junior. Not because of grammar. Because of word choice. Here is a story that illustrates exactly what that costs. A developer I worked with — let's call him Artur — was one of the strongest engineers on his team. His code was clean, his PRs were thorough, and his technical instincts were consistently right. He had been passed over for senior twice. When we looked at his written communication...
I help non-native software developers communicate like seniors — so they get promoted faster. Every week: one practical English upgrade for your emails, Slack, PRs, and salary conversations. Read past editions below. Subscribe to get the next one.