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You are considered a junior developer when you need 'a lot of hand-holding'. Now, I can figure out most things on my own, but how do you distinguish between 'needs too much hand-holding and therefore is a junior' and 'does ok and therefore is a medior'?

For example, I can do well on basic things and getting projects set up, but then I might need more help if errors truly become too cryptic or difficult to solve and I haven't found solutions. A few examples here:
- having messed up the git branches and releases so much that you need someone with a deep knowledge and troubleshooting of git to set the situation straight
- spending a week on trying to figure out why Azure doesn't want to successfully build your super custom build and it takes ages to figure it out because it requires in-depth Docker, linux knowledge and stellar, MIT-level troubleshooting and analytical skills

And so, someone who needs help with these is considered a junior?

How do you really identify a junior? Seems vague.

Comments
  • 1
    Both of those examples sound like the setup is too complicated and whoever is in charge needs a slap.
  • 2
    when I was a junior no one helped me with jack shit and it actually worries me what if I'm missing basic info everyone knows but I don't

    I was a junior doing senior/lead shit

    then I got hired as a senior... did fuckall and got paid x3. ridiculous. got fired though. not cuz I did fuckall but cuz somebody higher up had a personality conflict with me, I guess. I didn't even say anything! just wanted to get through my day. sigh

    humans suck
  • 1
    how to not need help:

    duplicate the problem somewhere else, Google the solution, try it in the test environment first. test knowledge of everything all the time if you have free time by editing things to figure out how they truly work instead of how people think things work. don't trust shit. get fired for being too good and having a bad attitude because you look too good and people suck. can't sabotage you into a shell of a person so fuck you
  • 1
    @jestdotty I always appreciate your replies, jestdotty. Thank you.

    If you miss info, you can just keep brushing up.

    Yes, the junior doing senior shit sounds typical.

    Politics.. just goes to show it's not always skills that propel you.
  • 1
    @jestdotty

    You know, that was a major problem; the problem was not replicable.. nor Googlable, and, fun as the company I worked for was: everything siloed behind bureaucracy. I couldn't do shit, so to speak. When you have such a problem, that's when it's tough. I did have a test environment.. but I couldn't even troubleshoot it because it required permissions from the lead.. which they didn't want to give.. such bureaucracy again. All I got was: "Make it work!".

    Free time was another issue.. all my free time went to trying to plumb the issues. I had no time for anything else, but I agree on your point. That's what I technically got fired for, yes. I was too good, the manager didn't like it, they felt inferior, and then they decided to conspire against me. If only I were joking. They confirmed it. Sick fucks. And then personally offended me. Incredible. Glad I'm out of there.
  • 0
    @CaptainRant yeah happens

    I think it's all always just culture fit tbh
  • 1
    Junior/Medior/Senior is a function or experience, attitude, apparence and performance.

    Im not sure what the function looks like exactly, but you can identify anyone as any of those based on those 4 attributes.

    Someone can actually have the years to X someone can actually have the mindset of X
    Someone can act as if they know X
    Someone can show the actual results for X

    Companies boil it down as years of experience because It's the simplest to quantify and there is some* correlation. But as a dev looking for work you also apply to the levels where you feel comfortable in (usually the level is mentioned in the posting) so you also grade yourself to an extent... Lastly the interview processe will do some basic screening, but not everyone will tell you if you're over-qualified so It's a bit unfair.

    That's where the system mostly reached equilibrium because there's no much more you can do without probing human brains.
  • 0
    @jestdotty Yes, they were all frat bro and party after work and I was more serious and mind my own business. That's also why I was let go at another place. Heck, at any place.
  • 0
    It's simple.

    Junior - someone who shows potential but needs a lot of supervision, mentoring

    mid - someone who can do most of his stuff on his own, can mentor juniors, can find assistance he needs w/o a single PoC [mentor]

    sr - someone who can build the whole thing ground-up, participates in hiring, leads tech interviews challenging candidates with his skill and knowledge [depth and breadth], leads teams, organized work in the team[s] to get shit done. Ensures means for the teams to learn and grow. Evaluates peers' seniority level and levelup initiatives.

    Principal - all of the above + communicates with the client, participates in sales, consulting, translates business needs into work units [epics, stories, tasks], manages risks and expectations, justifies decisions to the client using business language. Works on sales pitches.
    Defines new roles/sr levels, roadmaps to achieve them.
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