The article's perspective is that the superiority of senior engineers lies mainly in the access they have to other people. I.e., they're not better, and it's n

The article's perspective is that the superiority of senior engineers lies mainly in the access they have to other people. I.e., they're not better, and it's not because of their experience; it's because of their position. I.e., the politics of resentment have reached even here. Do junior engineers prioritize avoiding embarrassment over learning? This is a really, really tough nut to crack. And let's not always hand-wave about safe cultures. When in senior roles, I try to model learning from failure and sharing everything, from short script tips and fantastic books to leads and gossip. Also sit together. But still: juniors have literally complained that it doesn't matter when I fail, because I'm already "made". Their sense that they have to prove themselves, and advance on some ladder, hangs over them always. Even, or especially, at leading companies, where everyone there is good. Part of it may be style: if after a while you drop all the "please" and "maybe", you risk people confusing assertiveness with authority (triggers). Feed them achievable projects where they can hide failures and show success. And give them their say. Doing this adds a new dimension of complexity to meetings and work factoring, but they eventually chill. If it's better to teach someone to fish, think of it as producing fishermen instead of fish.