[thomascgalvin]

What really makes someone a senior engineer is having made enough bad choices to realize which bad choice they're about to make.

And it's pretty much always a bad choice. It might be a little bad - like if you're using PostgreSQL, you'll need TestContainers for your integration tests, which can slow the build - or it can be a lot bad - like if you're using Oracle, a horde of demonic spirits now know your True Name and are laying plans to extract the most value for their Dark Lord - but there's always tradeoffs.

Senior engineers are just better able to list and weigh those tradeoffs, and maybe hedge against some of the badness through careful architecture.