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This test completely misses what it means to be a senior (effective) engineer. The real difference between a mid-level engineer and a senior engineer is that the mid-level engineer will mechanically apply the same strategies to all projects without thinking - All the points mentioned in this article; CI, one-step deployment, daily status check-in meetings, etc, etc... are in fact not necessary for ALL projects.

The quote "Those who only have a hammer tend to see every problem as a nail" is a good summary of the junior/mid-level mindset.

I don't know the author, but based on the rigidity of the article, I would guess that they've only worked for big companies. I would argue that a most of these rules are only effective in the context of a very large company; in literally every other context, many of these rules are inefficient.

Big companies are all about risk mitigation; they are willing to sacrifice speed and agility in exchange for stability, certainty and visibility but this is actually a luxury that only big companies can afford and should not be taken as a rule of thumb.




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