When they advertise for a senior position it mostly means they want to have someone able to get things done on their own without creating problems down the road

When they advertise for a senior position it mostly means they want to have someone able to get things done on their own without creating problems down the road. Experience is generally a better indicator of this than domain knowledge[1]. There's very little reason not to apply for a job you think you can do regardless of the requirements. Just don't be surprised if you're filtered by HR for not having the correct buzzwords. The best way to actually get a job is to go out and meet people. Meetups, user groups, conferences are all good. Talking to other developers directly generally gives you a more accurate picture of what it's like to work somewhere and what's actually required. As a bonus if they like you and pass on your resume you avoid getting HR filtered. [1] Software design and maintenance are language/domain portable and are difficult to teach without direct/repeated exposure to examples, which comes over time. Unless the domain is about specialized knowledge (e.g. security) it's generally faster to teach someone the quirks of your business than it is to teach them how to design software and deal with them making mistakes.