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Senior or Junior

Usually companies call young employees Juniors and more experienced Seniors. Sometimes you need to just sit and wait and it will come. Sooner or later. From my point of view it is not enough. I met a lot of old employees they call themselves Seniors but they behave like Juniors. So I defined my point of view on Seniority:

professional
simple understand what I am doing and understand reason why I am doing it

can coach others
this is very basic; who can coach others is just fine but who can coach others to became a new coaches is super

not genius but have deep knowledge on some specialized parts
geniality is overestimated, we do not need "magical guru", to be expert is good enough;
if you are "one to go" when there is problem, it is OK

big picture overview
it is not probably possible to understand a whole system in details but it is necessary to have at least overview

know what I know and know what I do not know
to see myself in correct light is very appreciated, not only area of my knowledge but also my white-spots

sixth sense
if I do not know an area but despite it I act good way due to my previous experience and history

understand business value
Senior should know how his work and personality contribute to business values delivered by company

can handle stress
to have mechanism for handling stress, sorting priorities and survive is expected

take responsibility for my mistakes and learn
rise a hand and admit mistake is not easy but who is not able to do it, is not able to learn and never will be Senior

open mind for a new things
"if you have hammer everything is a nail" or "we are using this for an ages so there is no reason to change it"
Senior must know why he is using old stuff and be ready to switch to new things

know how to give a feedback
people sometimes fail and sometimes win, it is good if they receive not only right feedback (positive or constructive or negative) but also right way

act like a small fish
if you are big fish small fishes are scared, it is better when Senior is open to Juniors and do not scare them

understand good timing
choose right time to release alpha/beta or final version for testing/integration or production is not easy but Senior should know when it is good enough and defend his opinion

strong internal motivation
it is impossible that Senior is just pushover, so you need to permanently check on him and motivated him to work after every crisis

show standpoint
it is quite naive to expect that other people can read my mind, if I am always silent and not sharing my perspective; Senior should be able to take clear standpoint and discuss it openly with all stakeholders

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