Comments on: Senior Developer versus Junior Developer

By: @TheSandyWalsh

@TheSandyWalsh — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:24:13 +0000

Developer skill sets is a multi-faceted issue: http://www.sandywalsh.com/2010/03/developer-skill-sets-there-is-no-such.html

By: James

James — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 01:34:08 +0000

Phoet, in your 20s, yes?

Funny thing is, going by your blog you’re using OSS frameworks I wrote in Ruby.

But my day job is Lead Engineer at a startup developing .NET software.

By: Virvo

Virvo — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:15:26 +0000

The difference between a junior developer and senior developer can be summarised in one word: management.

By: Stu dean

Stu dean — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 12:47:43 +0000

I would like to add a couple of softer skills

“communication skills” and “ownership”..

It depends on the company setup I guess but generally

A senior developer needs to be able to talk to clients
confidently, clearly and be politically savvy enough
not to cause problems..

They also need to take ownership and responsibility
for the product/codebase.. In order to do this they need
to get the business side as well as the tech side..

By: phoet

phoet — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:08:22 +0000

6. does not use window$

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:02:24 +0000

You can be a senior developer at one company and a junior at another because of industry knowledge. I am a senior developer now but if I take a job in an industry that I don’t know I would start out junior but quickly work my way to senior as I gain the specialized knowledge that company needs.

I agree that listening is really important, only way to learn what the overall company needs. Working with others, especially QA and mentoring of other developers, is of huge importance.

Coding outside work could be writing something that helps your kids with home work, experimenting with AJAX, setting up a home server, it does not mean you are actively contributing to an open source project. Coding has to be a passion and not just a job.

I have in-laws that code for a living but have no real passion for it. I have friends that code with passion, there is a huge difference.

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:56:34 +0000

@Marek Blotny

There are other interesting things in life, and I would certainly suggest other interests outside of programming – people aren’t one-dimensional after all. And doing no coding outside of work pretty much indicates that programming *isn’t* one of them.

By: nikos lianeris

nikos lianeris — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:33:20 +0000

totally agree with your post.Apart from all the qualities you mention I would add that a good senior programmer should act as a “permanent junior developer” in the sence that he/she should always be eager to learn (from his mistakes,his colleagues etc), to find new ways to do things.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:03:11 +0000

Ability – Without it, you can have all the years of experience you want but you will never be more than junior. I see it all the time. 1 years experience 20 times.

Good mentoring – without it, you more than likely will never grow even if you have ability. Can you? Yes. but it will take much longer.

By: Marek Blotny

Marek Blotny — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:19:02 +0000

First of all thanks for constructive comments!

@Ratn

+1 on “good listener”

@Nate
“how are you going to start learning those “more than one programming language””

It’s not always easy but most software development companies use more then one language so usually there is an option to experiment and join different team for a while.

“regularly code outside of work”

I agree that codding outside of work of course indicates a passion and interest in programming. I just don’t think that one has to have only one passion, beside programming (probably) there are also other interesting things in life.