What Makes You Senior
8 hours ago
- #engineering
- #leadership
- #career-development
- Senior engineers excel at reducing ambiguity, which sets them apart from mid-level engineers.
- Mid-level engineers perform well with clear specs but struggle with fuzzy problems like improving performance or scaling.
- Senior engineers ask critical questions to clarify problems, separate important details from noise, and prioritize tasks effectively.
- Their ability to derisk projects and make them go smoothly is often invisible but highly valuable.
- Key questions senior engineers ask include identifying the actual problem, understanding user pain points, and challenging assumptions.
- Many companies fail to hire for ambiguity reduction, focusing instead on technical skills and experience.
- Architecture and communication are important but secondary to first clarifying what needs to be built.
- To gauge senior-level skills, observe how you handle abstract or complex tasks—clarifying them upfront is a key indicator.