>
I lose patience when juniors ask things they could have easily searched... So how do you, who are comparatively more experienced than your peers, not lose your patience?For starters, I try really hard not to think of the professional engineers on my team as "juniors." They're adults with thoughts and ideas and a different context than me and they're better than me at many things. Thinking of them as juniors in my mental model makes it way too easy to condescend to them and be patronizing.
Second, what is one's value as a senior engineer? A senior engineer is usually expected to be a leader. People will follow a leader's examples - not just in writing code but how he carries himself. If a leader loses his patience, his team will think that is acceptable behavior and start trying to get away with it.
In the context of a senior programmer - they can only accomplish so much on their own while coding. They bring so much more value to the group by helping their teammates be better. That manifests itself in code review, in being present and available, in providing reassurance to people finding their footing, in answering questions, in showing people how to do things, and just being an all around mentor. You can bring so much more value to your group by elevating your teammates to your level, rather than being the lone all star.
Third, I would try to think about this from their perspective. They're probably worried they're not doing a good job, they're probably feeling some heavy imposter syndrome, and they probably look up to you as someone who knows what they're doing. They have no clue what you know and don't know, or why you wouldn't know something. Cut them a little slack and realize that you have a presence among them, whether you're aware of it or not.
Fourth, think of this practically. You're squandering so many opportunities to teach and help the engineers on your team grow. I love when someone comes to me and says, "this doesn't work," because it is such a great chance to teach someone how to use precise language to describe a process, which is a very important skill in software engineering. It's a great opportunity to show someone how to debug a problem!
When someone asks you something you don't know, and you lose your patience, you miss a huge opportunity to show them how to find knowledge themselves. If you'd said, "I don't know the answer to that question, swing over here and let's try to find it out," and then you drove through some searches and articles while they sat by, you could show them some of the things you take for granted - whether that's how to skim search results, what to search for, or just knowing your tools like keyboard shortcuts.
So I'd say try to reframe how you look at things and how you look at your own role, and how you look at yourself. It might be helpful to look at advice other types of leaders have - NCOs (Non-Commissioned Officers in the military) or Sergeants in police forces for example.