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I can see where you're coming from but personally I don't like the idea of grading the seniority scale equivalent to how much help you need/ask for. Requests fo

I can see where you're coming from but personally I don't like the idea of grading the seniority scale equivalent to how much help you need/ask for. Requests for advice and assistance are not good indicators of intellectual weakness - the expert marshalling of additional resources in resolving an issue is a good thing when utilized appropriately. An example would be an engineer toiling in silence through a difficult problem on their own even though the organization has a competent expert that can expedite the process. In my mind the difference between a junior developer and a senior developer is the ability to recognize tasks/issues and accurately prioritize them in alignment with organizational objectives. In particular I've found that when left to their own devices junior engineers tend to focus on irrelevant items and metrics such as lines of code or genericness for genericness' sake where senior engineers target important bugfixes and features that bring highest benefit to the company and customers. There are parallels with this statement and the premise of the parent comment but I think the latter draws with too broad of a brush.

spdionis 10y ago
I think grandparent meant specifically taking the CTO's time, not a peer's time.
msandford 10y ago
> Requests for advice and assistance are not good indicators of intellectual weakness - the expert marshalling of additional resources in resolving an issue is a good thing when utilized appropriately. An example would be an engineer toiling in silence through a difficult problem on their own even though the organization has a competent expert that can expedite the process. Intellectual strength isn't the same as senior developer. There might be correlation but it's probably not super strong. I agree that someone not asking for help is definitely junior. But I might also argue that someone who does need to ask for help probably isn't as senior as you seem to think they are.
- jiaweihli 10y ago
  In an ideal world, this is probably the case. Unfortunately, there are a lot of non-ideal codebases in the world. Even the worst developer can eventually develop fluency in a poorly-designed codebase and seem much more competent than they actually are, compared to a new hire.

spdionis 10y ago

I think grandparent meant specifically taking the CTO's time, not a peer's time.

msandford 10y ago

> Requests for advice and assistance are not good indicators of intellectual weakness - the expert marshalling of additional resources in resolving an issue is a good thing when utilized appropriately. An example would be an engineer toiling in silence through a difficult problem on their own even though the organization has a competent expert that can expedite the process. Intellectual strength isn't the same as senior developer. There might be correlation but it's probably not super strong. I agree that someone not asking for help is definitely junior. But I might also argue that someone who does need to ask for help probably isn't as senior as you seem to think they are.

jiaweihli 10y ago
In an ideal world, this is probably the case. Unfortunately, there are a lot of non-ideal codebases in the world. Even the worst developer can eventually develop fluency in a poorly-designed codebase and seem much more competent than they actually are, compared to a new hire.