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Comment by logicalmonster | Hacker News Reader

> I think that if you have 5 years of professional experience, you can't really call yourself a senior developer

Can we start off by defining what a senior developer is? To me it means somebody who is capable of independent problem solving without handholding. If that's the definition used, then somebody can be a senior developer 6 months into their career, or still not be a senior developer 20 years into their career.

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For me, that's just a developer. A junior is someone who needs handholding, a regular developer can do their own work, while a senior has impact that goes beyond their own work (can coach juniors, make bigger decisions which affect team etc.).

1) I haven't looked for a job in a while. Do CURRENT_YEAR job ads distinguish between junior developer, developer, and senior developer? I mostly remember seeing ads for junior developer and senior developer jobs in the past and jobs that just listed "developer" were not that common if I remember right.

2) I think your description of senior mostly applies to some sort of lead developer or director of technology or some other fancy title. I think a senior developer can help juniors and make team decisions, but those who specialize in what you mention have some kind of lead or management title. To me, the key trait of a senior developer is that they can work out most problems on their own.

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