Possible Duplicate:When should you call yourself a senior developer? I often see offers for senior programmers and the rule of thumb seems to be that you need to have worked three years to become one. Duration doesn't mean much so what exactly is expected of a senior programmer? What should he be capable of doing? As an added question, when does a developer cease to be considered as a junior?
What can a senior programmer do that a junior can't?
skills;junior programmer;senior developer
There is (much) more to Software Development than cranking out code.Mentoring DevelopersLeading ProjectsDesigning SoftwareThis leads to: ResponsibilityA Junior Developer is still learning the language and frameworks on a daily basis, and thus should be focusing on this. A mentor (or experienced colleagues at least) is expected to guide him, especially the design decisions, and to check on him regularly (and not only his work), nudging in the right direction and sometimes helping out to smooth the path (for example doing the tricky work or handling the configuration/deployment).On the other a Senior Developer is expected to be autonomous. That is to say, the boss will hand him a feature to implement and let it up to him, entirely, knowing that the Senior Developer will know when to ask for help or review. The Senior Developer should also be able to tell his boss when he'll be done with the task, and actually take responsability for doing so.The difference therefore is not so much in expertise in the language, but in experience (in general) and reliability.