On: Ask HN: When are you considered a “senior” program...

[jobvandervoort]

At GitLab we have a formal definition for senior engineers [0] (where we accept merge requests, of course).

1. Technical Skills a. Great programmers: are able to write modular, well-tested, and maintainable code b. Know a domain really well and radiate that knowledge

2. Leadership a. Begins to show architectural perspective b. Leads the design for medium to large projects with feedback from other engineers

3. Code quality a. Leaves code in substantially beter shape than before b. Fixes bugs/regressions quickly c. Monitors overall code quality/build failures d. Creates test plans

4. Communication a. Provides thorough and timely code feedback for peers b. Able to communicate clearly on technical topics c. Keeps issues up-to-date with progress d. Helps guide other merge requests to completion e. Helps with recruiting

[0]: https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/developer/#senior-developers

[kewpiedoll99 → jobvandervoort]

I like this a lot. It's organized and measurable. Follow-on question, how do you get there?

As an aside, I often feel that being senior involves confidence.

[MikeTV → jobvandervoort]

FYI: beter -> better