[peakaboo]

I have to disagree with the view that not using black means the lead is not senior.

Being senior means you understand the tradeoffs and you make your own decision.

If you ask a senior why he choose not to use kubernetes, you will get a bunch of real reasons. If you ask a junior the same, he won't have a good answer because he lacks experience with the pros and cons.

[nucleogenesis]

Right and “we don’t need to use black because we haven’t yet and things work fine” is a bad response that dismisses the real needs and concerns of others on the team when they’re saying “things aren’t fine we want computers to handle the nitpicks from here”. I wouldn’t say it indicates junior tech skills but it’s a sign of junior management skills.

[Aqueous]

I would say it indicates junior tech skills as well. If the value of the linter isn’t self evident to him he is a junior.

[pydry]

>I have to disagree with the view that not using black means the lead is not senior.

I disagree with this straw man too.

It's the code review focus on small almost irrelevant stylistic details that signals a lack of experience.