The article fails to address the fundamental question: What is the purpose of the title? Without answering that, any definition of what makes a senior developer

The article fails to address the fundamental question: What is the purpose of the title? Without answering that, any definition of what makes a senior developer is meaningless. In my own experience, having worked in consulting, the answer to the question is that the title enables the company to charge a higher hourly rate for a particular developer, with the client's understanding that this developer's time will be worth more, because she is more experienced. If the client insists that a project should include a certain number of "senior developers", and if the consultancy is short that amount, then magically the most experienced junior developers will find the title bestowed upon them. Outside of consulting, I have a hard time seeing any legitimate purpose to the title, unless it is formally attached to a bump in salary.