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That's not a senior engineer's job.. that's a job that has scope creeped into many roles: project management, lead developer, project owner and a trainer. Are

by ipaddr 4y ago

That's not a senior engineer's job.. that's a job that has scope creeped into many roles: project management, lead developer, project owner and a trainer. Are you doing QA and managing the production servers as well?

matwood 4y ago
Blurring the lines is a senior engineer's job (though at a larger company, this may not happen until the next level up). It's how they grow the scope of what they deliver to the company. I would be upset if a senior engineer told me that anything in the path of delivering the final product was not their job. Defining 'job' here as understanding something and communicating/helping address/fix with the appropriate team.
corobo 4y ago
Not OP but > Are you doing QA and managing the production servers as well haha... yes I am
ZephyrBlu 4y ago
Those are roles that Senior engineers are expected to be able to play, at least at my company. And yes, devs do QA because we have no QA staff and Production Engineers manage the servers.
bombela 4y ago
Wait.. you are supposed to only code?
- puchatek 4y ago
  You're supposed to deliver value. But your org structure is dysfunctional I'd say you're also supposed to say boundaries and flag when you're spending too much time on things outside your core role
didibus 4y ago
That's what I thought at first as well, but I eventually realized that's not the case. The senior engineer is mandatory to be consulted and involved quite actively for all those other roles to function correctly.
croo 4y ago
Not original commenter but same shoe: the answer is yes and yes. Small companies has their perks and drawbacks :) And my view on seniority is definitely skewed: I would say I expect a senior engineer to handle a large(multiple month) task, rip it to pieces, make a rift out of it and handling out paddles for the other team members while talking through the hard shit with other similar minded persons in the company. I'd also expect correct ballpark estimates. What I do not expect is the business part - decisions, communication with the client, money stuff. I also don't expect responsibility for all of this on one person - this is where multiple roles comes to play as one person could break it's spline from all this.
- ZephyrBlu 4y ago
  This is expected at big companies as well.
dzikimarian 4y ago
That's exactly how we define senior engineer at my company. There's a lot of people able to produce code - even really complex and sophisticated. But you'll waste a lot of time if you're working without proper context and well organized team. From the other hand - you can't establish good context and organize team well without knowledge of what it takes to put requirements into code - therefore most efficient way is to blur a line between some roles. People who realize that, usually quickly become essential to organization. Rest is typically easy to replace.
- mytailorisrich 4y ago
  In general a "senior engineer" is simply a dev. with about 5+ years of experience so that they are no longer junior and no longer need hand holding. There's usually no, or very little, project management, lead work. At least that has been my experience everywhere I worked in the last 20 years...
  - wokwokwok 4y ago
    I don’t know why you think that’s true “in general”. If you have a team with a senior member it, in general, what would you expect that team member to do? How are they different from the other team members? They are not senior because they’ve been there the longest. That’s stupid. That just makes them the oldest worker, not the most senior. I expect them to have more responsibility for making sure the team delivers whatever it is they do. If the team does tax forms, then they’re more responsible for ensuring the forms are correct, and timely, than say, a junior accountant on the team. If the team produces code, they’re responsible for making sure the team produces the correct, maintainable code in a timely manner. If the team is two people, maybe that means “write lots of code”, but if it’s six people, it’s much more likely, in general, to be, making sure the rest of the team is doing the right thing at the right quality. Mentoring. Checking. Meetings. Documentation. Protecting the team from politics. Why? …because seniority is about responsibility, and if all you do is write good code, you’re not accepting the responsibility for anyones effort but your own. Obviously, it’s not solely your responsibility; you share that responsibility with the other team members depending on seniority. A team lead, for example, and other seniors. …but, I don’t care how many years experience you have: 0 responsibility for anyone other than yourself makes you a junior developer.

by ipaddr 4y ago

matwood 4y ago

Blurring the lines is a senior engineer's job (though at a larger company, this may not happen until the next level up). It's how they grow the scope of what they deliver to the company. I would be upset if a senior engineer told me that anything in the path of delivering the final product was not their job. Defining 'job' here as understanding something and communicating/helping address/fix with the appropriate team.

corobo 4y ago

Not OP but > Are you doing QA and managing the production servers as well haha... yes I am

ZephyrBlu 4y ago

Those are roles that Senior engineers are expected to be able to play, at least at my company. And yes, devs do QA because we have no QA staff and Production Engineers manage the servers.

bombela 4y ago

Wait.. you are supposed to only code?

puchatek 4y ago
You're supposed to deliver value. But your org structure is dysfunctional I'd say you're also supposed to say boundaries and flag when you're spending too much time on things outside your core role

didibus 4y ago

That's what I thought at first as well, but I eventually realized that's not the case. The senior engineer is mandatory to be consulted and involved quite actively for all those other roles to function correctly.

croo 4y ago

Not original commenter but same shoe: the answer is yes and yes. Small companies has their perks and drawbacks :) And my view on seniority is definitely skewed: I would say I expect a senior engineer to handle a large(multiple month) task, rip it to pieces, make a rift out of it and handling out paddles for the other team members while talking through the hard shit with other similar minded persons in the company. I'd also expect correct ballpark estimates. What I do not expect is the business part - decisions, communication with the client, money stuff. I also don't expect responsibility for all of this on one person - this is where multiple roles comes to play as one person could break it's spline from all this.

ZephyrBlu 4y ago
This is expected at big companies as well.

dzikimarian 4y ago

That's exactly how we define senior engineer at my company. There's a lot of people able to produce code - even really complex and sophisticated. But you'll waste a lot of time if you're working without proper context and well organized team. From the other hand - you can't establish good context and organize team well without knowledge of what it takes to put requirements into code - therefore most efficient way is to blur a line between some roles. People who realize that, usually quickly become essential to organization. Rest is typically easy to replace.

mytailorisrich 4y ago
In general a "senior engineer" is simply a dev. with about 5+ years of experience so that they are no longer junior and no longer need hand holding. There's usually no, or very little, project management, lead work. At least that has been my experience everywhere I worked in the last 20 years...
- wokwokwok 4y ago
  I don’t know why you think that’s true “in general”. If you have a team with a senior member it, in general, what would you expect that team member to do? How are they different from the other team members? They are not senior because they’ve been there the longest. That’s stupid. That just makes them the oldest worker, not the most senior. I expect them to have more responsibility for making sure the team delivers whatever it is they do. If the team does tax forms, then they’re more responsible for ensuring the forms are correct, and timely, than say, a junior accountant on the team. If the team produces code, they’re responsible for making sure the team produces the correct, maintainable code in a timely manner. If the team is two people, maybe that means “write lots of code”, but if it’s six people, it’s much more likely, in general, to be, making sure the rest of the team is doing the right thing at the right quality. Mentoring. Checking. Meetings. Documentation. Protecting the team from politics. Why? …because seniority is about responsibility, and if all you do is write good code, you’re not accepting the responsibility for anyones effort but your own. Obviously, it’s not solely your responsibility; you share that responsibility with the other team members depending on seniority. A team lead, for example, and other seniors. …but, I don’t care how many years experience you have: 0 responsibility for anyone other than yourself makes you a junior developer.