Building Blocks of Seniority in Engineering

Seniority is about how much you can increase overall output.

What seniority isn’t:

• It’s not only about the technical skills.
• It’s not only about how much you can deliver on your own (this disappoints some overachievers).
• It’s not about how long you’ve worked in the company.
• It’s not about age or years of experience.
• It’s not about your resume.

Seniority is about how much a person increases the company’s overall output.

Elements of seniority

Every company has its own career ladder, and there is no standard for measuring seniority in tech. Even job titles don’t mean the same thing across our industry. A senior engineer in one company wouldn’t necessarily have an equal title in another. A person’s official job title is not just determined by their skills or competence — there are other factors in play, like timing, opportunities, the alignment of someone’s interests with the company’s needs, and so on.

Regardless of the different interpretations across the tech industry, I’ve noticed three pillars of seniority in all teams I worked in:

1. Delivery and ownership
2. Business awareness
3. Cooperation / communication