A couple metrics I've come to look for in seniors:
- knows when to push back on stakeholders/management, especially on technology decisions
- knows when to adhere to industry best practices, and when to ignore it because it doesn't apply to the domain/problem at hand
- fights, strongly, against cargo-cult programming
- actively seeks to improve the knowledge and skills of his/her team members
- delivers solid, reliable, working code that can be trusted to work when they say it works
- is able to work effectively with peers who they disagree with
Promoting anyone to the senior title when they aren't remotely close to the bar is damaging to the team and to the company overall. It's especially damaging since if you promote the wrong seniors, they will effectively put a lock on the capabilities of your team, preventing team members they disagree with from achieving the same title, leading to a talent drain.
- knows when to push back on stakeholders/management, especially on technology decisions
- knows when to adhere to industry best practices, and when to ignore it because it doesn't apply to the domain/problem at hand
- fights, strongly, against cargo-cult programming
- actively seeks to improve the knowledge and skills of his/her team members
- delivers solid, reliable, working code that can be trusted to work when they say it works
- is able to work effectively with peers who they disagree with
Promoting anyone to the senior title when they aren't remotely close to the bar is damaging to the team and to the company overall. It's especially damaging since if you promote the wrong seniors, they will effectively put a lock on the capabilities of your team, preventing team members they disagree with from achieving the same title, leading to a talent drain.