Ask HN: What does Senior Developer mean exactly? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What does Senior Developer mean exactly?

2 pointsansek5 comments

Recently, I read a couple of articles about a role of Senior Developer but honestly can't fully understand what's this all about.

Some articles suggested that it's a set of skills when one can choose best-fit technology stack and get a project done. Some suggested that it's all about leading a team (but why do we have Team Lead then?).

Personally, I've been working as a web developer for 9 years professionally using front-end tech and back-end techs such as Go and Node.js. I can finish a website, a web service, SAAS project, choose tech stack, organize CD and CI, scale it up (not like AirBnB or Google but at a decent level), make the right decisions about testing and make the whole process work because I've done it before. Does it make me a Senior Developer?

What's your real world experience with a Senior Developer role?

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I would expect someone throwing that title around to have rewritten most parts of the stack themselves, in several languages; to figure things out or to custom build something that needs a tight fit. That kind of general purpose capability; to jump in wherever and solve whatever problems; means tens of years of focused thinking and coding for most people. To me it's very much about being a potential leader/mentor, official or not; and duct taping what's hot today into working solutions is not the kind of experience needed to guide and teach; not enough perspective. I feel so old writing this, we lost something priceless along the way to awesome profits.

So, basically, Senior Developer === Getting Things Done?

Don't expect more sophisticated answer from an industry where virtually all the workforce has less than ten years of experience, and usually it's three or five years.

Rather Senior Developer === Enough perspective and experience to solve tricky problems and guide others. Exactly what I wrote in other words. Sorry if that stepped on sore frameworking victim toes.

Titles like 'senior developer' are anaphora. Their final meaning depends on context. In some contexts 'senior developer' can resolve to a self taught JavaScript programmer with two years of experience based on their ability to solve ordinary problems without much supervision. In other contexts it means someone with fifteen years of embedded systems C experience based on their ability to solve hard problems with no supervision.

People move jobs for the same work with a different title. Titles don't bestow technical ability upon a person...though in certain contexts they do increase their billable rate.

Good luck.

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