Putting a job title on a person is difficult. First of all, the title should be descriptive of what the person does in a way that both customers, the person in question and the person’s colleagues understand what it is the person is supposed to do. At Angry Creative, we have chosen to have as few titles as possible to avoid confusion. The basic titles are Developer, Product Owner, Designer & Editor. This means that it’s relatively easy for us and for our customers to know what people do.
Lumping people together under broad titles is certainly good for clarity, but it doesn’t signal what a person is good at. That’s why you can often (albeit internally) have an additional system where you are assessed according to whether you are considered junior, intermediate or senior. In this way, a developer can, for example, be senior on a certain type of problem and at the same time be junior on, for example, leadership. It then becomes clear that if you put a person who is senior at solving a certain kind of problem in the role of leader, you can get problems with your leadership.
What are the different traits and criteria for junior and senior developers?
Matt Briggs wrote on his blog a good explanation of what differentiates a junior and a senior developer, both mentally as well as in their craftsmanship.
A junior developer is usually quite fresh from studies. The person in question often knows many things in theory, but lacks practical knowledge on how the “big picture” is connected. As such, they are often able to complete a wide variety of tasks both quickly and well, but lack understanding of the business value to be delivered. This person therefore needs a lot of guidance and supervision – normally a couple of times a day.
A developer at the intermediate level has often been running for a couple of years and has a very good knowledge of what problems are common and how to solve them so that customers are satisfied. These people are the workhorses of the organisation and know what value they bring to the organisation. These people do not need as much guidance and supervision as a junior developer, but they still need guidance. This type of developer is happy to create beautiful code solutions but may need to be reminded of what the ‘big picture’ is. This person normally needs a short tutorial once a day, usually in connection with a daily standup.
A senior developer is a developer who has made all the mistakes. They have built the big magic solutions that eventually became too complex to maintain, but prefer simple solutions. They consider that all stakeholders in the project should have a say to avoid building the “wrong” things. They automate manual work processes – but only if they see a benefit in it. They strive to improve as individuals while trying to help the team move forward.
TIP: We are looking for senior developers to join our development team.
Since it takes some time to get here, the senior developer is usually older than the junior developer. The person in question may have had children and become confident in their role as a fellow human being, and therefore these people can often become unofficial or official leaders in a development team.
Developers with impaired communication skills
It is not uncommon for brilliant developers to have problems communicating. This is normally not a problem. In a development team, different types of people are needed and this type of person is often a natural part of a team.
A senior developer with a communication impairment is often a strong and valued member of a development team, but may find it difficult to take on a general leadership role.
If a senior developer with a communication impairment wants to ‘take the next step’ in their career, and they have valuable skills, it may be worth considering how best to utilise these skills. For example, the person could take a greater role in quality work and be given responsibility around this rather than having to manage people.
Developers with ego problems
A developer who is senior in their skill set may still have self-image and/or ego issues. A developer is therefore not always the same as a leader in a development team (e.g. team leader), although they often go hand in hand. A senior developer with ego problems is a poor leader and can be the end of a high-performing team.
Having ego problems is problematic when you have to put the good of the organisation before your own ego. If you can’t do that, you become toxic to the group and the organisation. Putting such a toxic person in a role with a lot of influence can create big problems in an organisation, and in a small business, for example, this can mean the difference between profitability and bankruptcy.
It is important to ask yourself, both as a manager and as a developer, whether either of the above two problems exist, and if so, what you need to do about it. Either the organisation needs to evolve, or the individual needs to evolve, and sometimes that evolution can only start by parting ways.