Recently, there have been (and continue to happen) a lot of publications about personnel shortages in web portal development company, the overestimation of seniors, the underestimation of everyone else, mountains of gold, scandals, intrigues, and a horse imbalance in the balance of the “programmers” faction. In this article, I want to remember who the senior is and what it is highly desirable for him to know so that the impostor syndrome does not cover and that others respect and come for advice.
Table of Contents
Programming
One language at the level of touch-typing production code from the head on demand. General knowledge of design patterns and core libraries of the language is implied. If there is something low-level in the arsenal (by modern standards), then a bold plus. For example, after C, any other language is very simple. But, in any case, an understanding of algorithms and data structures is a must. The same as a clear idea of resources, their consumption, management, and accounting. That is, all this magic with memory and its levels, the complexity of algorithms, processor time, context switching, interpreters/compilers, their features, and pros/cons, at least at a basic level. In order, for example, not to be surprised by the “multithreading” in the GIL and its counterparts. There are also processes/threads/fibers and basic knowledge of parallel code execution. Well, the basics of functional programming. And then, one way or another, it was already brought into all programming languages.
Data warehouses
Be aware of the places where data is stored: file systems, various storage media from floppy disks to NVMe, and software add-ons for them. Here, there must be knowledge of databases (at least at the SQL / NoSQL level) and their areas of applicability. Know SQL and at least one of its dialects, be suspicious of other query languages, and discreetly hate them for inventing bicycles. Of course, ACID, data structures, indexes, reading exploits of any severity, and optimizing queries at a basic level. Also, it will be nice to understand where it is better to put what data (cache, logs, financial information, etc.), what is there with key-value, document-oriented, column-based storage, and other achievements of restless engineers and their thoughts.
What about the Frontend?
No way, just in the “programming” section, the language will be from the js subset, and the rest will remain unchanged. Well, HTML + CSS will be added. Layout, document flow, selector priorities, working with DOM.
What about Vue JS development services? This is fundamental knowledge. At the end of the article will be more detailed about this.
Architecture
This is when you understand how to link together all the above, so that it is in their place, complement each other, and do not interfere, and so that the minimum necessary set of tools/technologies is, and not a zoo. Here, scaling, fault tolerance, CAP theorem, estimation of the necessary resources (computing power, bandwidth, number of workers, etc.), and other high-level things those serious uncles draw with squares and arrows on the board and the choice/configuration of which is extremely dependent on the success of the entire subsequent development process.
Soft skills
As you already understood, soft skills are also part of the senior. If the guru of code and the lord of technology cannot communicate with his neighbor, then this is not a senior. Emotional intelligence must be present and actively used for its intended purpose. One must be able to clearly describe problems, and ways to solve them, reasonably criticize, and offer alternatives. To be open to criticism of your creations, to defend the position when intuition says that it should be exactly this way and nothing else. Naturally, taking full responsibility for such a decision.
Skills of self-sale and other trade, alas, are also mandatory attributes. We have capitalism, everything around us is a commodity, and what is not a commodity, is then destroyed. So, without a sale, not only can you not get a normal job, but sometimes you can’t even stand up for your opinion. So, the salesman must also live with every senior.
