How to write a development plan for next performance review as Senior Software Engineer?

Congrats on the growth progress, I hope you get the promotion! 🤞

Growth plans are super custom, and it will vary a lot based on company. Senior/staff engineers are also very custom, so this makes it even trickier - This is when engineers start falling into archetypes. I would talk to your manager about what format they expect. Here's some questions you can try:

1. "What sections should it have?" - At Meta, I split my growth plans by the 4 performance review axes of Engineering Excellence, Project Impact, Direction, and People.
2. "Are there any growth plans I can use as an example?" - If your manager asked this of you, they have probably asked it of other engineers in the past. If those engineers were at your level or above, you can more or less just follow their example.

Here's another good discussion about this: "How do I create a growth plan with my manager/mentor and what should it include?"

For understanding senior/staff expectations (this will help you craft a sufficiently ambitious growth plan):

• "I would like to get more clarity on what a Staff-level project and execution look like."
• "How to identify projects that are more suitable for senior engineers?"
• "What are the expectations of a strong senior engineer?"

How large is your company? Most medium/large companies will have a rubric for expectations around scope/impact for each level of engineer.

I'd copy/paste that rubric into your doc, then annotate it with how you feel you're doing along various dimensions. Highlight areas where you feel you're already meeting expectations and where you need more support. Then ask for feedback to see if your manager agrees with you.

That is your development plan!