The Senior

Titles are a funny thing. Sometimes we like to play them down, and sometimes we like to have big, fancy ones. Banks typically make lots of people "V.P."s so you know you're talking to somebody important. The CEO of my last company said, "you could call me the janitor as long as I got paid more than you." When it comes to developer positions, an often used term is "Senior" and it seems to mean different things at different places.

What is "The Senior"? 

At a previous company, a large defense contractor, there was a technical progression for Software Engineers: Associate -> Engineer -> Senior -> Staff -> Senior Staff -> Principle. It went on from there but not many reached the higher ones. (Remember that previous CEO of mine? ; ) Being a "senior" at that company put you squarely in at a Level 3 Technical position, and was directly related to your experience, education and pay scale. Outside of these extremely large organizations, a "senior developer" means many different things. And it is not consistent among companies.

Sometimes the title is self-defined. If someone thinks they are "senior" and can convince their boss or hiring manager the same, they'll get the title. Some companies have (loosely or strictly) defined criteria for what senior means, and some are too small to think about titles so it seems like people just make things up. I'm looking at you, "Chief Awesomeness Officer at New Startup Company." Everyone there gets a good title because both of you needed cool business cards : )

Is a senior based on experience in years? Skill? A gut feeling - "I know it when I see it." I've seen the title claimed by people that were skilled and/or experienced, but still felt something was lacking. They were good at what they did, but were they a senior in my eyes? Something seemed off, the title did not match.

Trust

To wrap up, for organizations without a defined progression structure, it comes down to trust. What can I trust this person with? 

• new team member/mentee? 
• entire team?
• research project or incubator idea?
• maintain a legacy project that business critical? 
• product roadmap?
• deadline?
• customer (interaction)?

Some people might have skills at some of these, and some experience as well. Ultimately it comes back to the stakeholders, and if they can trust their "Senior" with their product. Placing people in their strength areas is important, and in my opinion, a senior could simply be trusted with more. Maybe more in a few select areas, or just more areas in general. 

In the end, do not worry about titles. Keep working hard and growing your skill set so that you can be trusted with more. A good indication of what you could do is what you have already done (e.g. - What have you done in production setting that earned money?) 

Stakeholders will notice, and are seeking to find, people they can trust with their product.