Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: When are you considered a “senior” programmer?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 162 posts

Re: Ask HN: When are you considered a “senior” programmer?

#151

Post by wccrawford »

marktangotango wrote: post #131
wccrawford wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I noticed a few years ago that what set me apart from my junior days was that now when I have a question, I decide what I think the best course of action is, send an email with the question and my choice, along with a statement that I'm proceeding in that direction unless someone stops me, and then start working on it. Previously, I'd either have no idea what to do with it, or just not work on that thing at all. (Usu…

Ha, and the next level is; just do it and wait for someone to tell you it's wrong, which they probably won't but you've already argued the alternatives to yourself anyway. So criticism at that point is just opinion and doesn't matter.

I don't think I'll ever reach that level. While I'm very confident in my decisions, I'm wrong (at least a little bit) often enough that I always point out when I'm making those decisions.

Quite often I get no response, and just continue. But those time that I do get a response are still important enough that I'm not willing to risk missing them.

Re: Ask HN: When are you considered a “senior” programmer?

#152

Post by kewpiedoll99 »

jobvandervoort wrote: post #70

At GitLab we have a formal definition for senior engineers [0] (where we accept merge requests, of course). 1. Technical Skills a. Great programmers: are able to write modular, well-tested, and maintainable code b. Know a domain really well and radiate that knowledge 2. Leadership a. Begins to show architectural perspective b. Leads the design for medium to large projects with feedback from other engineers 3. Code qu…

I like this a lot. It's organized and measurable. Follow-on question, how do you get there?

As an aside, I often feel that being senior involves confidence.

Re: Ask HN: When are you considered a “senior” programmer?

#153

Post by kewpiedoll99 »

Steeeve wrote: post #27

My personal definitions: Junior: Can do it with guidance and/or clear and non-transitional specs Developer: Takes the ball and runs with it. Can walk a customer through requirements gathering and make recommendations. Will help guide junior developers. Senior Developer: Can architect a system well. Can communicate equally well between executives, salespeople, management, and end users. Can and will mentor lower level…

"Senior Developer: Can architect a system well."

How do you learn to do this?

Re: Ask HN: When are you considered a “senior” programmer?

#154

Post by christouphair »

Assess the new and shiny technologies and learn the ones that seem promising.

1 year later new and shiny will become the standard, there will be thousand of beginners and you'll be one of the few "senior" developers on that technology.

Of course you'll already be learning the new and shiny that will become the standard 1 year later.

Re: Ask HN: When are you considered a “senior” programmer?

#156

Post by monknomo »

rezashirazian wrote: post #141
anexprogrammer wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a question a week ago about junior developers. mrmekon [1] gave an excellent answer: It depends on when and why I'm defining it, but my guidelines are more based on how they work than what they know: * Junior developer - Will not produce much business value if left alone, and may produce nothing at all. Requires supervision. * Intermediate developer - Will produce something if left alone, but not necessaril…

Intermediate developer - Will produce something if left alone, but not necessarily what the business most needs. Needs minimal supervision, but defined goals. Senior developer - Will produce immediate business value if completely ignored. The difference between these two do not seem to be related to technical ability but rather being able to detect 'business value' within the organization's general business model.

Technical ability, beyond basic competence and the ability to look 2 steps ahead, is a surprisingly small amount of what makes a developer useful.

Re: Ask HN: When are you considered a “senior” programmer?

#159

Post by Steeeve »

kewpiedoll99 wrote: post #153
Steeeve wrote: post #27

My personal definitions: Junior: Can do it with guidance and/or clear and non-transitional specs Developer: Takes the ball and runs with it. Can walk a customer through requirements gathering and make recommendations. Will help guide junior developers. Senior Developer: Can architect a system well. Can communicate equally well between executives, salespeople, management, and end users. Can and will mentor lower level…

"Senior Developer: Can architect a system well." How do you learn to do this?

Sorry for taking so long to answer.

Experience building and supporting them. This is really just a definition based on my own experience and environments.

Re: Ask HN: When are you considered a “senior” programmer?

#160

Post by Steeeve »

voltagex_ wrote: post #30
Steeeve wrote: post #27

My personal definitions: Junior: Can do it with guidance and/or clear and non-transitional specs Developer: Takes the ball and runs with it. Can walk a customer through requirements gathering and make recommendations. Will help guide junior developers. Senior Developer: Can architect a system well. Can communicate equally well between executives, salespeople, management, and end users. Can and will mentor lower level…

> Can walk a customer through requirements gathering and make recommendations Well yeah, I can do that, but isn't that normally the business analyst's job?

Not that they have to do it as part of their day-to-day, but that they can communicate well enough to do so if needed. It's a given that the development skills are there in my mind, but to go beyond "junior", I believe someone has to have a strong enough understanding of things that they can both communicate well and be able to recommend solutions rather than just implement them.

Just my personal opinion. Based on environment, this may or may not be a good gauge.

Post reply on HN