How to become 'Senior' PHP Developer?

Discussion in 'PHP' started by modz, Dec 20, 2011.

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  1. #1
    I've seen many jobs for 'Senior' PHP Developer. What makes a programmer senior? If I work 40 hours a week, how many years of experience are enough to become a senior?
     
    modz, Dec 20, 2011 IP
  2. Gamernz

    Gamernz Active Member

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    #2
    Developers generally fit into the following broad titles based on experience:

    - Graduate: Less than one year experience
    - Junior: 1 to 3 years experience
    - Senior: 4 to 6 years experience
    - Lead: 5 to 6 years plus experience

    Of course other factors such as the projects you have worked on and if you have lead a team before come into play. It's just a rough guide.
     
    Gamernz, Dec 20, 2011 IP
  3. sarahk

    sarahk iTamer Staff

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    #3
    The years assume that with time you take on more demanding projects and have increased responsibility. If you do the same thing for 5 years you'll be no more "senior" - just older.

    If you work for a company that can see you have talent they may fast track you with training and mentoring alongside appropriate projects. An "employed" programmer may be limited to a single programming platform (eg peoplesoft, wordpress, an inhouse CMS) and that will limit their appreciation for alternative frameworks.

    I would suggest that a freelancer may take longer as they have less peer support and peer review and less formal training. The freelancer does, however, have the opportunity to work with different products (smarty, joomla, wordpress, cakephp) that have different approaches to how the code is structured and if they apply critical thinking they will benefit from the broader experience.
     
    sarahk, Dec 20, 2011 IP
  4. luckyguy354

    luckyguy354 Peon

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    #4
    The title Senior, usually can't defined specifically. Senior exist because Junior exist, which have lower experience (or something below Senior)
     
    luckyguy354, Dec 20, 2011 IP
  5. beven

    beven Well-Known Member

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    #5
    it 's all depend on the work experience
     
    beven, Dec 20, 2011 IP
  6. rajmeetbhullar

    rajmeetbhullar Peon

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    #6
    To become a senior programmer you must have at least 5-6 projects undertaken experience with customer satisfaction and you should have a good programming base than you will definitely become a senior PHP developer
     
    rajmeetbhullar, Dec 21, 2011 IP
  7. webmaster4321

    webmaster4321 Peon

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    #7
    Depending on what your experience is, it varies person to person. There's no official senior test to pass or anything.
     
    webmaster4321, Dec 21, 2011 IP
  8. JohnnySchultz

    JohnnySchultz Peon

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    #8
    still depends on the organization you are working on, for me, i became a senior developer before because of length in service in the company not by experience. (btw, i already left that organization.. hehe)
     
    JohnnySchultz, Dec 22, 2011 IP