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Discussion on: So, what does it mean to be a senior developer?

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jonrandy profile image
Jon Randy 🎖️

In 25 years of experience at many companies, Senior Developer essentially boils down to OLDER developer

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murrayvarey profile image
MurrayVarey

... or one who's changed jobs more often!

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gypsydave5 profile image
David Wickes

Yeaaaa - promotion to 'senior' to make sure they don't leave, or because they've been around too long. This is very dangerous, as it makes them feel like they know what they're doing when they don't.

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pedrammarandi profile image
Pedram marandi

Main reason I left my previous role is because of that. My boss hold promoting me for various reasons which none made any sense to me. He talked about age, being recently graduated and other non-sense stuff. I interviewed and got a job as senior developer in a larger company, then he was like this is my new offer and your role is senior.

At some points, we need to be promoted and it even made sense to him but he stopped me achieving what I needed to advance my career.

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dinsmoredesign profile image
Derek D

Older than someone fresh out of college, sure. I'm not sure I necessarily agree with the older you get, the better you are, though.

Yes - at the company I work for, most of the senior level developers are ones who have been in the industry for many years, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have senior-level skills. The reason they get to this level isn't because they've been programming since FORTRAN was the best thing around and they have all the knowledge in the world, it's because their employer felt it was necessary to promote them in order to keep them happy, because it's more expensive to lose and train a new employee than it is to keep him or her.

There's a reason why a lot of developers who have been at larger tech companies for years never make it past L4, because they simply never develop skills that the company feels makes them perform at that more senior level.