What it Means to be “Senior”

Bear with me as this is the first time I’ve put my thoughts on this topic in writing. I expect I’ll iterate the content of this post many times over as I get feedback, so if you have thoughts, I’d love to hear them. This post builds on The Branching Career Path to explore expectations for people focused on their craft.

Senior job titles are awarded too easily in the high tech space. No matter the field, we’ve all encountered colleagues who hold a senior position but don’t embody the values and responsibilities that their team needs them to live up to. This happens for a variety of reasons. It can be easier to provide a title bump in lieu of additional salary. Or it’s used to keep a specialized contributor around. Worst of all are those times when managers believe that seniority directly correlates to the time in a role.

If you watch team sports, you’ve seen how coaches interact with their veteran players compared to the rookies. Vets are held to a high bar, and those expectations include actively helping the new players level up. The same expectations must be set in the business context (don’t worry, that’s the last sports example).

A “Senior” title is a leadership role indicating that the person is not just experienced, but team-oriented.