The Definition of Senior: A Look at the expectations for Software Engineers

In today’s fast-paced tech industry, the role of a senior software engineer has become increasingly important and something many engineers strive to be recognized as. But are you senior yet? And what’s expected from you a senior?

The truth is that answering these questions is a very subjective matter and different people or different companies might give very different answers.

Hopefully, this article can inspire engineers to grow in their careers, help managers to hire the right people, set expectations, and support their teams.

The first remark I have to make is that I am not going to focus on different levels of seniority like what it means to be a Staff, a Principal engineer or even an Architect.

Some people like to call that ”being a force multiplier”, which, be aware, is very different from being a 10x engineer. In fact, a senior engineer is first of all a team player and not a lone hero, or a rockstar, a superstar, a magician, a grey-bearded wizard, a unicorn, or a whatchamaccalit!

Easier said than done! What kind of skills, mindset, and duties are we talking about? How can an engineer effectively help to move things forward (more than a junior or a mid-level engineer can do)?

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