In tech, we put a lot of emphasis on growth, and to a lot of people, that’s means a promotion. I've met a lot of mid-levels who are frustrated that they're not getting promoted to senior because their work is high-quality, they’re executing consistently, and they’ve been mid for a couple of years – so shouldn’t that mean it’s time to be recognised as senior?

Today, we’re going to talk broadly about what it means to be senior. It’s not just about the work you produce (although that does matter) – it’s actually about the impression you leave on others.

This jump is a big one. In broad terms, you're looking at 3-5 years of experience for mid and 7+ for senior, so it’s going to take you much longer to go from mid to senior than it took you from junior to mid.

The actual number of years isn't the thing we're looking for, but it's a proxy for number of reps. You can only learn some things by doing them multiple times. You wouldn't trust a senior designer to be a great researcher if they've only done two rounds of user interviews before, or a senior PM who has never shipped something that didn't produce the intended outcome.

While the quality of work you're doing is certainly an important part of being recognised as senior, it's not all of it.

Being senior means that you are now a role model, and a new standard for "this is what good looks like" in your function. This is both for external stakeholders and others in your function, who will be modelling their growth and development after you. That means it matters a lot that people who hold the Senior title are able to live up to it.

Aside from your work being really good, you're also going to be judged on the effect you have on people around you. If you project anxiousness, uncertainty, or panic, you will not be perceived as senior. Part of the role of a senior is to make sure everyone feel like they're in good hands with you, even if you're not sure what to do next.

Being promoted to senior before you're actually there yet can backfire. It may feel great to have a salary bump and a new title, but you will now be held to that higher standard and have people all across the business expect more from you.

The other risk of a premature promotion is actually if your business doesn't recognise the weight that Senior carries. What happens here is you aren't held to a higher standard and you think you're doing a great job, but going to market for your next role can be quite challenging. If other employers don't recognise you as a "true senior," you may not be able to get the title again or even a salary match.

If you’re not at senior yet, that just means you need to get more reps in. Things like "exuding calm in a time of crisis" is stuff you learn from just… experiencing more crises. And if you want to assess yourself, you can look at job ads and think about how you would convince someone new that you are a real senior – that can really help you find the gaps you need to work on.