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We don't have senior engineers anymore

sibelius.substack.com

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Re: We don't have senior engineers anymore

#2
In all the companies I work for in the last 20 years "senior engineer" effectively meant someone with about 5 years of experience.

In general the bar is low, indeed, and the title tends to be quite aggrandizing.

The title that shows seniority ("been there, done that"), again in my experience, is the next one, which usually is "principal engineer".

Re: We don't have senior engineers anymore

#4

In all the companies I work for in the last 20 years "senior engineer" effectively meant someone with about 5 years of experience. In general the bar is low, indeed, and the title tends to be quite aggrandizing. The title that shows seniority ("been there, done that"), again in my experience, is the next one, which usually is "principal engineer".

How does that square with the junior job postings that want at least ten years of experience with some technology?

Re: We don't have senior engineers anymore

#5
turns out there's no philosophy of engineering!

IMO, this is also why we have "computer science"... as if computers were found in nature and we were trying to 'reverse engineer' how they are made; which is ridiculous!

engineering, technology, computers, are not well covered by neither philosophy of arts nor sciences; if anything math's philosophy gets closer; but it's just a branch of phil. of science.

Re: We don't have senior engineers anymore

#8
But whose fault is it?

I just got hired by a company that was looking for a data product leader.

I only have 3 years of experience in data analysis, but the owner of the company thinks I am extremely capable of leading the company's data front.

Since I'm not attached to titles, concepts, and job definitions, I obviously accepted the offer because my salary doubled.

Re: We don't have senior engineers anymore

#9
post #4

In all the companies I work for in the last 20 years "senior engineer" effectively meant someone with about 5 years of experience. In general the bar is low, indeed, and the title tends to be quite aggrandizing. The title that shows seniority ("been there, done that"), again in my experience, is the next one, which usually is "principal engineer".

How does that square with the junior job postings that want at least ten years of experience with some technology?

From what I’ve seen a senior is just an junior who landed a job

Re: We don't have senior engineers anymore

#10

turns out there's no philosophy of engineering! IMO, this is also why we have "computer science"... as if computers were found in nature and we were trying to 'reverse engineer' how they are made; which is ridiculous! engineering, technology, computers, are not well covered by neither philosophy of arts nor sciences; if anything math's philosophy gets closer; but it's just a branch of phil. of science.

> as if computers were found in nature and we were trying to 'reverse engineer' how they are made; which is ridiculous!

Computer Science is a branch of pure math, and arguably pure math is found in nature and we're just reverse engineering its laws.

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