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I totally agree with the premise that while technical knowledge is crucial, it shouldn't be the determining factor of whether someone is a Senior Engineer. What is also important is the ability to communicate effectively and mentor other developers.

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I think there are lots of things that a Senior should be better at, in fact anything that is part of the job:

* More emotionally mature

* More pragmatic

* More business aware

* More recruitment aware

* Better at whatever process you are running

* More security aware

* More performance aware

But more than all of this, ideally there would be an objective progression ladder to ensure they have actually done all of these things not just assume they have because they worked somewhere for 10 years and was called "Senior"

Agreed. The "value" of the senior engineer is not that they write code faster than a junior. The value they bring is that they level up a team. They hire well, they provide mentorship, they help the team avoid making time-and-money-wasting mistakes.

Everyone should be able to communicate effectively, regardless of their role. I'd argue that one of the primary differences between a junior and senior in terms of capability is their prior experience and the degree to which the skills required for their job are developed.

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