1. Reducing Ambiguity Distinguishes Seniors
Seniors clarify vague problems by asking targeted questions, understanding user needs, and avoiding premature implementation.
"“Tell me about a project you’re most proud of?” Then I’m going to start asking questions about your decision making process, how you dealt with complexity and ambiguity, etc." - raw_anon_1111
"The key things often missing in meetings discussing a vague problem is do we really understand the problem and how do we make concrete progress." - terrillw
2. Seniority > Title: Focus on Ownership and Impact
Titles like "Senior" are often meaningless; true seniority involves scope, leadership, initiative, and reducing chaos over rote coding.
"It's just a pay grade. Please folks stop trying to analyze 'junior,' 'senior,' and so forth." - oh_my_goodness
"You don’t get to be a senior engineer just because of tenure. It’s not gaming the system to expect a level to be based on the amount of responsibility." - raw_anon_1111
3. Practice + Mindset Over Pure Talent or Years
Seniority stems from practiced skills like initiative, reflection, and asking questions shamelessly, not innate talent or time alone.
"My superpower as a staff engineer was having zero shame in asking questions." - dcminter
"Seniority level it’s based on the volume of practice someone has. Period." - alexgotoi