

On being "Senior" - galaktor
http://www.galaktor.net/2012/04/on-being-senior.html

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DrJokepu
Age-related words has been used to describe status in a hierarchy for a very
long time. It's an euphemism. "The Council of Elders" sounds much better than
"The Council of Rich & Powerful". This tradition is in fact much older than
most of our words so it's pointless to argue about its semantics. It's very
common in classic Latin.

My argument is that since "senior" has been used as "someone having a high
status" for thousands of years, it actually means it.

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galaktor
Like sokoloff pointed out, I think you are missing my point. I'm arguing that
precisely because "senior" implies age-related status, I think many people are
using it wrongly. And therefor applying time-related measurements where they
are actually looking for expertise.

If by "senior" you are referring to somebody who's been in the industry or on
a project for a long time, I would agree.

However I do not agree that that person will automatically make a good
teacher, team-lead, consultant, mentor simply because he/she has been around
for a while.

Unfortunately I see exactly that happening time and again, and blogs
discussing how "senior" they are based on how good they know JavaScript. Hence
my post.

Sorry if I was not clear enough in the article, I'd appreciate any suggestions
on how to improve it so that it makes the point better.

~~~
DrJokepu
I agree with the rest of your post, I'm just nitpicking here. I wanted to
point out that when a professional is described as senior, it has nothing to
do with age or how long they've been in the industry, it reflects their
status. Assuming a somewhat meritocratic environment, I think "senior" means
the same as "expert".

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kenrikm
I moved from Junior designer to Art Director within a year of leaving college
and getting my first job (doubled my income at the same company) I was put in
charge of people who were "Senior" and had been with the company for 15
years+. It's true Senior != Expert. Personality is a big part as well Expert +
Introvert != Management.

