Programmers' ranks
Every soldier carries a marshal's baton in his pack. Every junior carries senior's brain in his head. So, on the eve of the men's holiday we want to tell you about a particle of military discipline in the world of Information Technologies, about developers' ranks.
If you look from the side - all programmers are just sit and press the buttons write code. But in fact, there are lieutenants, captains and even generals among them. Well then how does developers' career look?
Junior - the first step on the long road of self-development. As a general rule, the successful completion of this phase requires help from more experienced colleagues. Serious challenges are still beyond the power of junior, but every day they get more and more experience and confidence in their own abilities. The main task at the start is to link the extensive theoretical knowledge with real commercial programming practice. Next the routine work process comes, which sooner or later leads to the position of middle.
Middle - the golden mean, the person who already knows their capabilities. If juniors have a reputation of optimists, then middles estimate the time and complexity of tasks in a realistic way. Books have been read, several projects have been closed, and you can work in peace and have many coffee breaks. However, a quiet life is not for programmers, because new technologies are continuously developing and if you do not follow them closely, you can stay on the sidelines. Middle, who understood this simple rule, has the potential to move to the next position.
Senior - in fact, is the last step that requires direct code writing. Senor spends much time at meetings discussing high-level concepts of software. Often seniors train juniors, because middles do not have enough time. To be honest, companies do not mind if people will stay on this position for a long time. Time spent at this stage of career depends on the programmer's desires.
And what's next? In fact, then the fun begins. As we mentioned earlier, the level of tasks' indirection grows along with career. Direct code writing goes the way of the dodo and becomes replaced by the software architecture and design. However, the architect is only one of the possible options for development. If a person is focused on active communication, then he or she could become a project manager. If he wants to delve into the training, he could be a great coach. And of course there is the option to become a high quality consulting expert.
In conclusion, we would like to point out that despite the fact that the career length correlates with rank, programmers can grow much faster than the military. A key factor influencing the pace of growth is the proper desire to develop, as well as readiness to solve more and more non-trivial and poorly formalized tasks.
