Ah yes, the elusive title: Senior Software Engineer. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Makes your CV look impressive, probably gets you a bit more attentio...
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Someday!
The #1 sign of being a senior is knowing when a solution is good enough. Otherwise, we keep wasting time on abstractions, micro optimizations, unnecessary changes to make it scale. You're senior when you master YAGNI.
Been there, done that, and had so many different titles in my short corporate career - engineer, developer, consultant, junior, senior, lead, and now I mostly call myself a "creative (full-stack) web developer with a front-end focus" or just a "front-end web developer" without any "senior" buzzword. In my subline, you can see that I have been working more than 25 years as some kind of web developer.
I am an idealist and perfectionism has always been harmful. The further I move forward, the more I think I am not perfect yet and I get stuck in this vicious cycle and never take steps to increase my self-confidence.I don't even know where my level is now.😂😔💯so gooddd post 💪🏻
I've been there, there's nothing bad about it but you gotta let go, why? Because in a week, that beautiful code that you've written will either need to be changed or someone will mess it up! In terms of level - imho, We're all beginners regardless of experience!
Glad you enjoyed the read :)
Thank you for thinking that way, others expect you to be as knowledgeable as a professional programmer at this age.🥺
Being a senior is less about coding wizardry and more about clarity, empathy, and knowing when not to build. This should be mandatory reading for every dev aiming for the title.
Spot on!
Yeah, this is so true! 100%
Glad you enjoyed the read!
Yeah, I absolutely enjoyed reading this and felt the same way.
I’m looking forward to reading your future posts — great writing, @goldennoodles
Great insights!
Thank you!
This is all so real, especially the emotional support part - way more therapy than I expected. How do you keep context switches from burning you out?
Good question! Slowing down and understanding. You can't be expected to understand a whole system in a day!
Oh and take notes, your future self will thank you
My husband is so smart
senior not easy as i first thought. one day i might become senior and maybe a bad one
Hopefully not a bad one!
I never want to be a senior engineer. What do junior, medium and senior even mean?
It is just as bad as naming a variable
x,yorz.it is an abstraction of people that never should been made.
I get where you're coming from, titles can feel meaningless when they’re just thrown around. But at the core, they’re really just a way to reflect different levels of experience.
I think three levels are too little. Five or ten would be better in my opinion.
Just yesterday I was asked the question, do you see yourself as a senior. I answered no and i don't think I ever will.
I don't skirt the responsibility, I take care of others in a team, I try to learn every day. I think the one thing I'm missing is flat out commitment. My private time is too important for me to set is aside for a job. I don't mind the occasional putting out fires, but people I consider to be seniors do it much too often for me to be ok with it.
Yeah, hits different when you realize senior just means more cleaning up after everyone plus meetings for days
Exactly that.. and usually those meeting could be emails or finished in about 10 minutes rather than the hour+ they go on for.
I see how you used "therapist" to highlight the people-oriented demands, which totally resonates. I want to clarify, though, that the term can be misleading. For example, managing a stressed PO over deadlines is more about clear communication and leadership—like negotiating timelines—than therapy. In specific cases, like supporting a junior with impostor syndrome, we might play a "therapist" role by offering mentorship and encouragement. But for deeper issues, like a teammate dealing with depression, that’s completely outside our responsibility.
Very intrestinng topic is shared, nowadays most of the developers want to be senior engineer, but to become senior engineer it is important to have various programing skills as well as have the knowledge of technology such as blockchain, VR/AR, Metaverse. Nowadys most of the India based top blockchain development services provider companies were hiring senior engiers who has experience on latest technology so that high-quality results can be deliver easily.
After six years in the industry, I've learned that the role of a senior engineer is much more layered than I first imagined. The whole "10x engineer" myth? Yeah, I used to believe into it and thinking it was about speed and writing clever one-liners that could make even the most complex problems look easy. But the truth is, being senior isn’t about racing to be the fastest coder but it’s about being smart in your decisions, thinking critically, and focusing on long-term impact.
A big part of it is knowing when not to solve a problem at all or when to take a step back and say, “This is not the way to do it.”
Loved this. As a Software Development Consultant with over 4 years of experience, I resonated with every line, especially the part about being a part-time therapist and the chaos filter. Being “senior” is so much more than code; it’s about people, decisions, and resilience. Thanks for putting it so honestly. Sharing this with my team!
It's like a family thing—when someone messes with your little brother, you step in as the big brother to protect and stand up for him no matter what.
Yes, but first a cup of coffee
I’m not a “senior” engineer but this feel accurate and I can relate to a lot of them.
I think helping and hearing every one in the team is really important!
good