Recently, I have had like three or four people who have asked about my roles and responsibilities as a Senior Developer so I thought of jotting it down for anyone who might be interested or preparing for the transition.

Introduction

As a Senior Developer in the team, I am not only expected to be well-versed with the technologies I work on, but also assumed to take on additional responsibilities to help guide and mentor junior developers, lead projects, and make decisions that impact the future roadmap of the product.

In this blog post, I will try and list down the various responsibilities that come with me being a senior developer and why it's important to take them seriously for anyone who might be transitioning into the role shortly.

Also, let me just briefly introduce myself. I have been in this role of Senior Developer for over 15 months now and I specialize in backend development. My core skills revolve around C# with .Net and .Net Core framework.

Other supporting technologies which I have used and know about include MsSQL, MongoDB, RabbitMQ, ElasticSearch, Azure etc. Currently, I am developing Rest APIs using Microsoft tech stack for the product I have been part of.

Roles and Responsibilities

Requirement Discussion

Ever since I moved into this role, I have had to participate in a few extra meetings now and then. Usually, the agenda on these calls is around the upcoming requirements, having a very high-level discussion on what is expected and then distributing it among the seniors in the team to work on a feasible solution and approach.

Solution Design & Estimates

Another new responsibility introduced with the role was to come up with multiple feasible solutions for the requirement and provide a tentative estimate for each of them. This is then followed by discussions with Solution Architect and Tech Leads to finalize the best approach and provide the necessary details so that the solution document can be prepared.

Proof of Concepts

This is something rare but I have had two work on two separate POCs in recent times to finalize the way moving forward. One was to identify if we should set up one of our servers on VM and take care of them completely or go with a managed service from any of the cloud providers. I had to go through the pros and cons and identify if there would be any code changes required when we move from our on-premise solution to one or the other.

Hiring and Interviews

I am now also involved in the initial screening for the openings we have in our team or even in the organization as well. Usually, the first round of tech interviews is done by me and then based on the outcome I can suggest a further round with my tech lead or reject the candidate entirely.

Mentorship

One of my most important responsibilities as a Senior Developer is to provide guidance and mentorship to junior developers. This can include teaching them about new technologies, clearing their doubts, and helping them navigate difficult problems. I need to make sure that I invest sufficient time in their growth.

Code Reviews & Merge

Along with the code I write, I also need to make sure that the code checked in by others also complies with the standards the team follows and then once everything looks good, I need to merge them to the dev/main branch as well. During the review few of the pointers on which I try to focus on are if the main requirements are met, best coding practices are followed like proper exception handling, checks are implemented etc.

Co-ordination with QA and Production Support

I also need to make sure that proper handoff sessions are done for the items I am directly involved with so the QA team members are aware of the changes that are coming in. Sometimes I also hop on to calls with the Production Support team when they need assistance in the analysis of some issue which requires looking into the code.

Individual Contribution

The above-mentioned responsibilities were directly linked to my role as a Senior in the team but again there are things expected from me as an individual contributor as well. This includes directly working on the task assigned to me and making sure that everything is properly implemented and unit testing is done thoroughly before the QA is involved.

Documentation & Knowledge Transfer

I am also required to make sure that certain applications & team-related documents are always updated whether on the drives, Confluence or any other such portals.

Also in case a new member joins the team I am expected to help in their onboarding both concerning the technical details of the application and the dev sandbox setup as well.

Ad-hoc Responsibility

Finally, there are some ad-hoc tasks that might come into my basket in case my lead is on leave or may not be able to join a call. I then have to act as their proxy and work on things that cannot wait for their return and which I am capable of doing.

Conclusion

Being a senior developer comes with a lot of responsibilities, but it also provides the opportunity to make a real impact on our team and organization. It enables us with powers to help ensure the success of our team & the company, along with earning the respect and trust of our colleagues.

Hope this was useful for anyone who was trying to figure out what is ahead for them in their professional career. Please feel free to add any other responsibilities which you have been bestowed in your role. For now, keep learning and building.