Ask HN: What is the difference between Software Engg. & Senior Software Engg.?

The title "Senior Software Engineer" means "we're worried about you leaving, but we don't want to pay you more, so we're going to give you a title which sounds better in order to make you feel appreciated".

There are no differences in work responsibilities. The term is an artifact of HR and organizational structures that have little to do with making software.

To me, "software engineer" means you can come to a large, existing project, look at their open tickets and begin to attempt to fix the issues. "Senior software engineer" means you can design such a project, push the first commit and supervise it as it grows.

But what does it mean realistically? Probably exactly what Colin said.

At least a 10% raise, I'd hope!