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> Remember when being a “Senior Software Engineer” actually meant something? I do, and I can’t help but feel nostalgic for that clarity. I am one and I do. Th

> Remember when being a “Senior Software Engineer” actually meant something? I do, and I can’t help but feel nostalgic for that clarity. I am one and I do. Thankfully, the post provides a reasonable definition thusly: > A true senior engineer is a battle-tested problem solver. They’ve faced and conquered complex technical challenges across multiple projects, dealing with more than just tricky bugs. These are the architects who’ve untangled system-wide issues that require deep understanding and creative solutions. They’re the ones who can navigate and refactor sprawling legacy codebases with confidence, understanding the delicate balance between maintaining existing systems and building new ones. As the author explains above, being a senior engineer does not require a specific title. It is a mindset, an understanding reached not by years but by enlightenment. A CIO to which I once reported shared with me a perspective that remains with me to this day: You can't take a title to a bank and cash it.

ryandv 2y ago
> As the author explains above, being a senior engineer does not require a specific title. It is a mindset, an understanding reached not by years but by enlightenment. And who is capable of recognizing enlightenment in a land where the blind lead the blind? This is an industry where novices who have been programming for 16 weeks sum total are elevated to the level of "senior engineer" for political reasons or for compensation and then, on the basis of this titling, are put on hiring committees and then considered qualified enough to judge the merits of another - who may have been a total weeb shut-in and already put in 30000 hours of obsessive programming but doesn't conform to the whitewashed, diluted, Big Bang Theory-esque cultural notions of what a geek is supposed to look like because they don't abide by Caucasian heteronormative standards of how geeks are supposed to take 30 second reels or themselves writing JavaScript in VSCode.
- AdieuToLogic 2y ago
  It appears to me that you are expressing a significant amount of frustration and/or disappointment regarding whom is given the title "senior engineer." I, too, have seen similar to what you describe. What I can offer regarding same is to try to separate a title assigned from the positioned earned. To wit, I can give myself the title of "2023 NBA MVP"[0], but that doesn't make me Nikola Jokic. HTH 0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Most_Valuable_Player_Award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Most_Valuable_Player_Award

ryandv 2y ago

> As the author explains above, being a senior engineer does not require a specific title. It is a mindset, an understanding reached not by years but by enlightenment. And who is capable of recognizing enlightenment in a land where the blind lead the blind? This is an industry where novices who have been programming for 16 weeks sum total are elevated to the level of "senior engineer" for political reasons or for compensation and then, on the basis of this titling, are put on hiring committees and then considered qualified enough to judge the merits of another - who may have been a total weeb shut-in and already put in 30000 hours of obsessive programming but doesn't conform to the whitewashed, diluted, Big Bang Theory-esque cultural notions of what a geek is supposed to look like because they don't abide by Caucasian heteronormative standards of how geeks are supposed to take 30 second reels or themselves writing JavaScript in VSCode.

AdieuToLogic 2y ago
It appears to me that you are expressing a significant amount of frustration and/or disappointment regarding whom is given the title "senior engineer." I, too, have seen similar to what you describe. What I can offer regarding same is to try to separate a title assigned from the positioned earned. To wit, I can give myself the title of "2023 NBA MVP"[0], but that doesn't make me Nikola Jokic. HTH 0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Most_Valuable_Player_Award https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Most_Valuable_Player_Award