If you are looking at smaller companies, there is definitely a tiered system in terms of the complexity and challenges that a company can offer it's development staff. One company's "junior" developer might have the experience to be a "senior" developer at a firm with much simpler problems.
Some people have the stamina that they can just keep solving the same problems over and over again without getting burnt out. I think most people though, will have a tendency to seek out novel or more challenging problems as they grow. Someone working on problems they find too easy will lead quickier to burn out, likewise someone working perpetually on problems that are way above their head can lead to the same.
I have changed firms three times in my career, and each time I sought out a company that was doing something more difficult than the last. With each company, I've come in on the lower-end of the team's skill curve and worked my way up to the upper-end of the skill curve. Then, I got bored, burnt out and moved on to something more difficult.
If you are looking at smaller companies, there is definitely a tiered system in terms of the complexity and challenges that a company can offer it's development staff. One company's "junior" developer might have the experience to be a "senior" developer at a firm with much simpler problems.
Some people have the stamina that they can just keep solving the same problems over and over again without getting burnt out. I think most people though, will have a tendency to seek out novel or more challenging problems as they grow. Someone working on problems they find too easy will lead quickier to burn out, likewise someone working perpetually on problems that are way above their head can lead to the same.
I have changed firms three times in my career, and each time I sought out a company that was doing something more difficult than the last. With each company, I've come in on the lower-end of the team's skill curve and worked my way up to the upper-end of the skill curve. Then, I got bored, burnt out and moved on to something more difficult.