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What is the definition of "Senior/Staff/Principal/No-prefix Software Engineer"? All those titles always confuse me
One good source I found is gov.uk site: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/software-developer
1. Open an index.html, include a javascript file and write an alert or console log.
2. Create your own company.
3. Title yourself as a senior software engineer.
Joke aside, during my career I've met several senior software engineers that are anything but and several "normal devs" that are a lot better than most people who have the senior title, even in the same organisation.
I don't think titles has anything to do with knowledge, rather it does have a lot more to do with whatever position you're given and that position could be given to you for a number of reasons. This is what has lead me to my belief that titles are unnecessary cruft that takes focus away from other more meaningful endeavors.
It's easy to become a senior software engineer, anyone can do it with these simple steps: 1. Open an index.html, include a javascript file and write an alert or console log. 2. Create your own company. 3. Title yourself as a senior software engineer. Joke aside, during my career I've met several senior software engineers that are anything but and several "normal devs" that are a lot better than most people who have t…
But, surprised that all the discussions are about this, instead of the content.
What is the definition of "Senior/Staff/Principal/No-prefix Software Engineer"? All those titles always confuse me
Senior: Second or third job change.
Staff: That one person who has been at the company forever.
Principal: We're an enormous engineering org and need to have a treadmill so we don't lose our people but can't just give them payrises. Most titles also have multiple levels.
While it’s not impossible. I find it hard to believe anyone could become senior (in terms of actual skill) in two years.
People I consider senior software engineers have a can-do-anything vibe about them. They have a wide range of skills in the field, and have that T-shaped experience profile: there's some area they seem to know everything about, and then they somehow are able to say something sensible about a whole lot of other areas. For instance I worked with a guy who wrote financial exchanges but could also write a modern front-end, understood how kubernetes worked, and knew a fair bit about databases. You couldn't throw out a term that he couldn't place (X is a language / framework / pattern / OSS project), and you couldn't come up with a problem that he didn't know the closest well-known adjacency for.
That's a vague outline of what I think a senior dev is.
To get there is a long story. I think you need the good fortune of not being siloed in something very specific or superficial. That might even include having the "good fortune" of being forced to change jobs a few times. You also need some luck in your personal life to be able to explore a bunch of stuff in your own time, plus some funds (probably less relevant today where everything is an online service).