Ask HN: What qualities show that you're an experienced software engineer?

Knowing when to not over-design for the task you need: do you really need to spend an extra week to add generics and factories and extensibility to a service that will only ever do one thing and one concept, ever?

Do you know how to write testable or mockable code?

to invest whatever is necessary to get the team and the project over the finish line - not just my piece.

Three things:

- know all the tradeoffs and possible options you need to make

- have the judgement to balance and choose correctly

- be able to execute no matter the mix of choices

Using the right tool / pattern for the job, vs rather than hacking at it. Generally simplicity and lack of code I think show a veteran at work.

You say "programmatic & design qualities" but I actually think a senior developer is more productive because they enhance team health by creating vision, mentoring junior devs, and effectively articulating their vision. This ultimately is the difference: can you expand your productivity by setting the team's pace and get others bought into a vision on how things should be done? If no, you could be the smartest tech wizard in the world, I'm not sure you'd be an effective senior dev.

A senior dev helps ensure the team is healthy. What's a good team?

- Do they get sh*t done. Do they deliver what they need to? Does it ultimately work?

- Do they work well with others. Do they serve their customers and stakeholders? Or are they perceived as a bunch of a-holes?

- Do they have a healthy mix of new talent/ideas and seniority?

- Does the team develop emotional safety and trust? Are constructive differences of opinion brought into the open, or is dissent stifled causing conflict to fester?

- Do they know what they're after? Have they self organized around shared culture, principles, and working practices for getting there?

A good senior dev is like one of the "team captains". The team captain is a top player that pushes the other players to produce, but also learns how to leverage and mentor fellow teammates in the game.