The differences between a junior, mid-level, and senior developer

Years of experience of a developer are not the only indicator for ranking a junior, mid-level, or senior developer. This does not mean that a senior developer has to be a master in all areas of software development, but it is quite accurate to claim that an advanced developer is much more skilled than a junior or mid-level developer.

Lets looks at those skill differences.

Developer skill sets

Coding

If you think programming is writing code that the computer understands aka “code monkey”, you are wrong . Coding is a craft and you should communicate with people and interact with systems, because in the end all the code is going to be compiled into zeros and ones.

The code has to simple and readable to other developers who will work with it in the future. A senior developer will code in a way that someone who didn’t write it can understand it and use it as quickly as possible. This we can add other functions or correct errors without wasting too much time.

This is the primary difference between juniors and seniors. The mid-level developer is a gray zone in that regard: developer codes functionally but is not yet clean enough to be understood by another developer without some help. However, the mid-level developer is already on the road to becoming a senior, creating a cleaner and more self- explanatory code every time.

Coding like a senior developer is something that comes with experience and understanding of coding practices and patterns and how to apply them. A mid-level developer must have gone through full-life-cycle software development at least once or twice. So not only has developer written the code for later use, but has also made it their own code readable for junior developers to use.

Because of this, you will likely make many mistakes, but learnt from the experience to apply DRY.

Knowledge

A senior developer has more accumulated knowledge than a mid-level and a junior. Therefore, the junior developer must study in depth pattern design, architecture, automated testing, operation, security etc… to reduce the gap with respect to the mid-level and senior developer.

It should be noted that, although it is important to know how things should be done throughout the software development cycle, this does not make you a senior developer. Know-how is a factor, but the fact of having done it over and over again is what makes you an expert.

A junior developer

Junior developers are inexperienced, usually recent graduates starting their first full-time job. They are usually focused on getting the code to work. Not paying too much attention between functional software and good software.

Programming directly and understandably is difficult, and it’s something newbies don’t do. As a rule their codes are complicated and full of complex abstractions and most likely over engineered.

This is their way of demonstrate to their senior peers that they are good at programming, when in reality they are proving the opposite. Junior developers focus on the side of the code that goes to the computer instead of facilitating communication with the human who checks it, and this is wrong.

How to identify a senior developer?

When reviewing the code of a senior developer, its simplicity. You may even wonder is that all the code, because the expert writes in the simplest, most direct and sometimes even dumb way, so it is easily understood what each line does and why.

In short, a senior developer will strictly follow the KISS principle: Keep it simple, stupid.

The fundamental difference between junior developer and senior developer is the code. Senior will always think of the work in terms that make it scalable and easy to maintain focusing more on the people who will work with the code later than the coding itself.

Their code looks simple that’s the beauty of well-made software.

Other factors that define the level of a developer

In addition to writing CLEAN code, there are other factors that allow developers to be classified.

Junior developers typically will do simple, low-impact tasks on overall project progress, and do no design the software architecture.

Nor will mid-level developers design solutions: they only perform specific routine tasks. The difference is that the latter do not require as much pairing as long as the tasks assigned to them are relatively known.

Senior developers are prepared to develop software independently, from scratch. This does not mean that they do not have to consult on some aspects or ask for help from others: developing a project is having doubts about it every day and this is a reality that will never change.

But the difference is that the senior developer knows how to ask the right and necessary questions and knows how to deal with the solutions and implement them. Mid-level developers can ask the right questions about routine tasks, but they need help with more complex endeavors.

Thus, the senior developer is never totally lost on the path to follow and knows how to implement each answers. They can and should consult with other developers who have more experience in a specific area, but go straight to the solution without wasting time on unnecessary explanations, because they already have deep enough knowledge.

In contrast, a junior developer should not be expected to ask the right questions to get to a solution highlight risks and trade-offs. Since they have not faced any objective problems and are inexperienced in code handling, it is necessary to provide them with the guide of more experienced developers to give them a push in the right direction.

Moving the ladder?

Let’s see:

From Junior to Mid-level developer

Newbies have less programming experience, so the best way to learn is go through the full software development cycle a few times. During their learning and growth they will make many mistakes and fall into countless traps, but they will also learn from their mistakes and leaning on their mentors.

As for the way they write the code, they will have complications, code smells, lack of unit tests and bad habits. By reviewing their code with senior developers these bad habits can be remedied and improved on.

Newbies must also learn and debug their work, and gain a better understanding of how each process works within the company. In the same way, they must acquire knowledge on topics such as architecture, performance, security and others to go to the next level.

From Mid-level developer to Senior developer

This jump is more difficult . Many mid-level developers remain at this level throughout their career, as advanced developers only reach that level going through many mistakes and learning from them.

To reach a senior level, the developer must be willing to take on tasks that no one knows how to solve and go further. Senior developers are able to transmit knowledge gain to peers, and act as mentor to get the most inexperienced up to speed without affecting the project progress.

Last but not least, senior developers are gurus in their specialties and often consulted by other specialists who are at the same level. This requires mastering all the tools and applications that are used within the company, and therefore becoming fundamental gears in the development of their companies.

Conclusion

Years of experience do not separate developers into classes. Of course, it is true to say that as a developer works more on their skills and knowledge, they achieve greater prestige, but senior developers separate themselves from the rest in the way they see and write code.

They also know what questions to ask and how to react to each answer, which can only be done by a developer with a lot of experience and who knows in detail each tool available.

To progress as a developer, it is necessary to focus on creating simple codes and go through several complete cycles of software development. But to reach the highest level it is necessary to focus on much more than performing routine tasks. At the same time, a senior developer has to be able to share knowledge to less experienced developers and assist them in their advances.