Thirty-plus years into my career, I do not remember this fabled past age of the author's idealistic description, when "senior software engineer" was a badge of

Thirty-plus years into my career, I do not remember this fabled past age of the author's idealistic description, when "senior software engineer" was a badge of some achievement greater than no longer being a junior; I myself gained that august title when I was all of 23 years old, having begun full-time work a couple of years earlier than most. I hardly think anyone would have described me at that time in the superlative terms the author uses for his preferred "senior"; indeed, I've met few people at any level of experience worthy of such fulsome praise. Instead of getting into the weeds about what titles ought to mean, or embarking on this quixotic effort toward persuading people to harmonize them, I have found it much easier to just ignore them altogether.