Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
Ask HN: Should I be worried joining as senior dev at new job if I'm not one yet?
3 points by asteria 2577 days ago
I will be starting with a new company as a senior engineer working on full-stack web development in a few weeks.

I'm not sure if I'm under any signs of imposter syndrome, but I've been worried about being really judged and seen as a "senior" engineer at this new job.

I have done only 2-3 personal sites using React and had a year in a job doing actual web development. I would think of myself as at most a mid-level developer. I don't think I'm a "senior" developer yet.

I've applied to this "senior" position thinking they wouldn't have called me up but they did. The hiring manager had only one interview with me. There were no tests or anything, just a very very high-level and superficial technical conversation with me about the tech-stack I've used before and then I was hired. It was pretty easy.

Although I've taken up their offer, I'm really not sure if I can meet their expectations of a "senior" engineer. The last thing I want is they figured they made a wrong decision and decide to dismiss me in a few months for not meeting their expectations.

Should I be worried about this?

2 comments

It is 100 times worse to be stuck in a position where you can't learn anything and your title is lower than what your actual skill is.

For example, I have been yearning for a position as a distributed systems engineer. Even though I don't have the experience for it, I highly doubt I will ever find a job that can keep up with my rate of learning.

You too can learn things faster than how long it takes for them to figure out you don't know. It is just a matter of dedication. Stay in a couple of weekends and read a lot of tutorials.

There's a lot of mythicism in software development. Developers get a big head because they solve complicated things all day long. It is hard to give a chance to someone with no experience.

My advice is to take the opportunity. Regardless of what happens, you will learn a lot.

I got a “senior” job once with no experience just so the company could bill me at a higher rate.