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Junior Dev: knows how to do stuff ... in a way, kinda. Hopefully asks a lot of questions.

Mid. Dev: Knows Best Practices and how to implement them. Knows what questions to ask.

Experienced Dev: Understands why best practices are best practices. Can give insightfull answers.

Senior Dev: Pushes the boundaries of best practices and when to ignore them. Questions him/herself a lot.

And then there are D. Knuth level developers which I still have to figure out.



This is my current view as well, I just add tests to it.

Junior: doesn't know how to create tests for their code

Mid: Creates the tests but leaves some important parts untested or tests have bad practices.

Experienced: Creates the right tests but might overdo.

Senior: Tests only the stuff that matters and knows when it's not worth it.


I think the last set of qualities is fine for Knuth level developers - they're that off the charts you have no idea how to classify them.


You're off by one there. Your "junior dev" should be "apprentice" or "student".




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