Marco RogersSep 17, 2024
Okay. I don't really wanna start a fight today. But at some point we're gonna talk about how the last 10 years has seen software developers pushing for premature promotion into Senior or Staff titles. And one of the ways they try to demonstrate that they deserve these promotions is by doing unnecessary "Arkiteksure".
https://phpc.social/@afilina/113153763726491625
🇺🇦 Anna Filina (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image Almost every day, I see microservices that should have definitely not been microservices. Almost every time, it's a big bad of mud with extra complexity. You can't just split things into random smaller things, slap HTTP in between and call it architecture. In almost every case, cleaning up a monolith would have yielded better outcomes.

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Show threadMarco RogersSep 17, 2024

There are a few spicy things here. So I want to unpack a few things just so folks don't misunderstand me. (You can feel free to be mad as long as it's about the right thing)

First, I said "premature promotion". I know a lot of people are going to wonder what that means. I'll try to state it clearly and directly. Before the bottom fell out of the market, devs could make a lot of money by getting raises and promotions. Part of the way to get that was by raising your level by any means necessary.

Show threadMarco RogersSep 17, 2024
I believe we have been seeing an overinflation of levels/titles for a while now. This is mostly because devs were in high demand. They agitate to be "Senior" after only a few years of working. For better or worse, many companies have been making this concession in order to retain people. (whether it actually worked is another convo). But the knock on effects have been severe. "Staff" title has come into vogue as the new "Senior". And the expectations of Senior have been greatly decreased.
Show threadMarco RogersSep 17, 2024
The word "premature" is meant to convey that many devs are reaching higher levels without the actual experience and expertise necessary to inhabit those levels effectively. We see the outcomes in so many ways. Slow bloated apps are pervasive; Data breaches have become normalized; Interviews are centered around specific frameworks rather than foundational knowledge. All of this come from similar root causes in my opinion. Our industry grew too big way too fast. And we didn't train anybody.
Show threadMarco RogersSep 17, 2024

Now, it's important for me to address the flip side of this coin so I can be really clear. There are many other factors at play here. This isn't meant to "blame" devs for any of the larger harms we see in the tech space. That's a related but separate discussion.

Also, I'm not judging people for seeking higher compensation. For most kinds of software tech, seeing workers extract more of the profits they are generating takes precedence over any concerns about quality. In my opinion.

Show threadMarco RogersSep 17, 2024

So, I'm only raising this in hopes that the dev community can start to see and discuss honestly how our individual choices can have impact in the larger system that we inhabit. The system is dysfunctional for many reasons that are outside of our control. But we can still have some self-awareness and humility about the parts that we do control.

If we want to that is. We can also decide that we're okay with all of this. I just don't want people to say they never heard it.

Show threadMarco Rogers

But I want to bring it back to the core issue I started with. What does it mean for a dev to have the required experience and expertise? When do you "deserve" to be Senior? Who decides?

Those are good questions. The answers are not as simple and straightforward as we might wish. In a lot of cases, the people deciding who gets raises and promotions are also not competent make these decisions.

Sep 17, 2024 at 5:33pmWeb
Show threadMarco RogersSep 17, 2024
The reality is that most of the time, we get to set our own standards for whether we're doing a good job. And that matters a lot. It's a lot of power and a lot of responsibility. But many of us don't really understand it that way.
Show threadJacob HobbieSep 17, 2024
@polotek I feel this. I'm 6 years into my professional career at this point, which I think is the *average* time people become senior. But I definitely don't feel like I'm senior level quite yet. I'm getting there, but jobs I see are all for seniors and I'm uncomfortable applying for them.
Show threadMike AndersonSep 17, 2024
@HobbieJ that probably means that you are better qualified than somebody who feels that they should be senior.
Show threadPeter KrausSep 17, 2024
@HobbieJ @polotek for comparison, in academia, the early career stage ends usually around 4-5 years after a doctorate, which itself takes around 3-4 years of full time research work after your Master's degree. For example in the Swiss system, 4 years after a doctorate you become a "Scientist" - not a "Staff" or a "Senior" one, just a plain "Scientist".
Show threadJoeSep 17, 2024
@polotek Covid seemed to make a mess of this distinction as well, as places started competing for talent without paying current staff more by simply lowering the bar for a title for new hires. Senior roles would go from 8-10 years of experience to “5 would be nice”.