advice

Ten Ways To Know You’re In A Senior Role

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(If you enjoy this article, check out my other books on careers, including using your hobbies, and more.)

Back when I went in search of the IT Gap I found that there was a Gap in hiring “Senior” IT people. The evidence suggested that the talent pool for such experienced people, one covered up by certain economic trends and practices. I didn’t answer one question in that essay – namely, what the heck do I mean by “Senior” person and a “Senior Role”?

I probably should have worked on answering that.  So I am now.

Why is it important? Well, though you can guess, let’s review:

  • The title affects what job you’re interviewed for.
  • The job and being thought of as Senior affects your pay rate.
  • The Senior positions affect what other positions you’re eligible for.
  • If you’re in IT and other professions (and if you’re reading this you probably are), it affects how valuable recruiters think you are – which plays back to the start of this list.

It’d be really nice to know what it means to be “Senior” in a job. And what is that definition?

That’s the problem – I can’t find anything specific

Senior And A Senior Role: The Phantom Maturity

I’ve never actually found a good checklist of what “being Senior” in a job means – and this is after two decades in IT and even more in the workforce. I’ve held many Senior positions in that time, but what made them Senior wasn’t always the exact same. In one case I got promoted to a Senior position I already had, which says something about the definition in the first place (I also didn’t get a raise, which sort of was a pain).

As I tried to investigate what “being Senior” was, I found people didn’t agree on what it meant either – it seem sot be a bit of a running joke among some professionals and recruiters that no one had a real definition. There’s no checklist, no guarantee, just a lot of maybes and could be’s.

This makes sense when you consider it – a simple title like “Senior” can’t be one size fits all because professions, jobs, and industries are different.  It’s almost laughable that we throw the word around so casually – if a bit sad that it’s hard to find much agreement on the title period.  Sorry, fellow professionals, we’re all in the same leaky boat.

So the first thing you have to realize is that being a “Senior This” or “in a Senior position” is always going to be subjective. There’s no universal standard.

However, I did find ten common traits of “Being Senior” that give you something to aim for.

What Makes Someone Senior Or Defines A Senior Role?

So, heres’ what I found makes someone Senior in their position. Please note that this is obviously biased by my IT career experience, but I think I’ve got it broad enough for most professions:

#1 – YEARS OF EXPERIENCE: A senior person has minimum five years of professional experience in their profession (and possibly industry). That means working as professional, almost certainly paid, on tasks that have a real impact to an organization.

#2 – TAKES INITIATIVE: A Senior person in any position has the experience, responsibility, and personality to take initiative on projects and issues – they may not always lead (see below) but they’re the ones that can, should, or have driven things.  If you decide on what architecture to use for an IT project or chose vendors for your school that fits.

#3 – CAN LEAD WHEN APPROPRIATE: A Senior person can provide leadership when appropriate to their profession. For some this is leading a group, for others providing leadership on technical design or organizing documents – a bit like 32.

#4 – COULD TEACH: Not can, could. A Senior person should have enough knowledge of their profession to be able to teach others about important subjects – if needed. This may not mean they’re good at it, but they could barring other barriers like, say, the actual ability to teach. Note this could be general things or company/industry specific – something.

#5 – KNOWS AN INDUSTRY: A Senior person should have awareness of their industry, follow it, and be able to analyze the impact of changes. In some cases this is “be able to” because sometimes being Senior means you end up down the rabbit hole of your own projects for awhile.

#6 – HAS RESULTS TO THEIR NAME: A Senior person can demonstrate and discuss identifiable results to their work; they didn’t just work on a project, they managed it or oversaw it or made a major contribution to its success that wouldn’t have happened without them. In short, they can not just discuss the work they did but truly can say “something existed or was done because of me.”

#7 – IS CALLED SENIOR: If someone calls you a Senior by definition of your company position, etc. you usually are. Having a position changed to be senior, called senior, or transferring into one has some cachet. It shows someone trusted you – or in the case of poorly defined positions, you stepped up to try and fit whatever random definition was forced on you.

#8 – HAS ADDITIONAL TRAINING AND CERTIFICATIONS: A Senior person has additional training, certification, classwork, or something similar behind them. This may accumulate over time, expand their horizons, or speak to their abilities – whatever the reason, they’re important.  Usually you need these things to be able to take initiative, teach, and get results anyway – other areas of “being Senior”

#9 – HAS SOME PROFESSIONAL INVOLVEMENT: A Senior person has some involvement in their profession beyond just doing it and training for it. They go to professional events, are involved in associations, go to seminars, etc. If you’re senior, you’re involved.

#10 – WORKS TO BE SENIOR: A Senior person also tries to live up to the above traits and figure out just why it means to be senior at their job, in their profession, etc. hey, I can’t give you the exact details – part of being senior is trying to be senior.  This is part of the whole “being called Senior” thing as well.

Sounds simple? Well, OK not simple, but I think I broke things down into a few useful traits that you can use. But there’s one more thing.

The Senior Cycle

One of the challenging issues of “being senior” is that sometimes it leads to . . . not being senior. You may rise high enough in your profession to move to another profession – where, no matter what, you’re sort of starting over again.

It’s probably best to give an example – when I was a Senior Programmer (some eight plus years) I became a Project Manager. Though I was leveraging my skills and experiences as a Senior code jockey, I was far more junior in the area of being a Project Manager. I could not do my management job without my IT experience, with all that perspective and knowledge, but my management skills weren’t at the same level as my coding skills.

Frankly, it took about as long to get my management skills to “Senior” level as my coding skills.

So remember, your senior job may lead you into a job that’s . . . not so senior. it’s a promotion that is kind of a demotion in a way. Remember you’ll be starting over – which means get those certifications, get that five years, etc.

Oh and if you think at some point you may get tired of moving up only to start over as “non_Senior,” you’re not alone. Some people find a point to stop moving up the ladder, and you will too.

Moving Onward

With the above ten points in mind, I hope you’ll have some guidance towards “being Senior” at your job – or even just admitting your Senior and getting that promotion/transfer/new position you wanted.  At a lot more pay and respect.

In the end part of Senior is trying to figure out what the hell it means and going after it.  Good luck.

. . . and if you find any better definitions, please let me know.

  • Steve

Healthy Cooking: Okonomiyaki

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I haven’t posted as much on cooking in the last year as i’ve been working on the voice of the blog – which I settled on as being “mine” which cleared things up.

So let me share one of my secrets of healthy, fast, delicious cooking: Okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki’s been descried in many ways – usually poorly – so I’ll give my own summary: a pancake with vegetables and often savory ingredients in it, served with sauces (usually Bulldog and mayo). It’s a Japanese creation, repurposed from other cuisine, and quite popular as you can do it many ways – the name itself comes from “as you like it.”

To me, it’s a way to get a healthy meal fast that’s easy to eat. Of course I do it my way.

See I use chickpea flour. Chickpea Flour, aka Gram flour, aka Besan Flour, has two benefits:

  • It’s high protein because its’ pulverized beans.
  • When mixed with water, it’s sticky, so you don’t need eggs (great for vegans, people with allergies, or folks that just don’t want eggs).

Seriously, Chickpea Flour is culinary magic.

So here’s my take on using Oknonomiyaki to eat healthy – now this does involve a bit of oil for frying so it’s not as healthy as it could be, but still.

For a single serving you need

  • 1 cup besan flour
  • 1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder (you can also use baking soda if you stir in a tsp of vinegar right before cooking)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2+ cups shredded vegetables – traditionally cabbage, I use finely shredded cabbage and carrots in a 3-1 blend. you can also try grated sweet potato, spinach, and chopped tomatoes (though they add a little water to the mix). Think of it like a veggie omelet if you want to get ideas.
  • Sauces of your choice (I recommend barbecue or Bulldog, some mix with mayo – I need to post my own version of Bulldog sometime).

To do this:

  1. Mix Chickpea Flour, baking powder and water in a bowl. Mix thoroughly as the flour can form little lumps.
  2. Gradually add the shredded vegetables, stirring until the bowl is basically vegetables coated in batter, stuck together. I get in as much as possible, which is usually a bit over two cups depending how well shredded it is.
  3. Heat a non-stick pan and add a bit of oil (olive or sesame) when hot, then dump the bowl and fry it up like a pancake. It usually takes 3-5 minutes a side -and try not to press down on it so it fluffs up.
  4. The complete pancake fits easily onto a standard plate. Dump it out and serve with sauce – even a bit of soy does the trick.

That’s it – a giant heaping helping of leafy greens and powdered beans turned into a delicious pancake.

There’s also ways to enhance it:

  1. Add soy sauce to the mixture to add savory tastes
  2. Add pickled ginger (about a tablespoon) for a great kick.
  3. Add about 1/4 cup kimchi – that adds fluid, so I’d use a bit less water.

To make it even easier? Keep a bag of frozen shredded vegetables in the freezer to grab whenever you want.

I’m sure you can come up with more ways to do it! It’s become one of my go-to for a quick healthy meal that tastes great – nothing like a nice, warm, savory pancake filled with nutritional goodness, with some nice condiments, after a hard day. I tend to make it about once a week.

Give it a try, let me know how it comes out for you.

-Steve

Relocating For Work: Learn To “Interview” Places To Live

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At some point in your career you’re probably going to have to relocate.  If you’re lucky, it won’t be far, maybe the next town over.  I’m not sure how lucky you’re going to be – we geeks have careers that tend to the urban areas, the cities, the centers.  Chances are a lot of us don’t live where we should or will, and will have to get packing.

Now if you have to relocate, short or long, at some point you’re going to have to decide where to go.  I like to think of this as “Interviewing” a city or town to find out if it’s right for you.  It’s just like a job interview, only you’re seeing if the place you could end up at is worth moving to, and no one is going to ask for job experience no one has.

I reccomend taking this approach wether the move is far or close – because even if a move isn’t far from where you are, moving after a bad choice is still a lot of work.

So, let’s get to it.

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