I just saw this question posted on Reddit, “What makes a good senior developer? Specifically in terms of their soft skills.” I started thinking about what my answer would be, if I were asked this question.

(Of course, this assumes I’m a good senior developer, but let’s assume for a moment I am. Bear with me, I know it’s a stretch.)

Obviously there’s many aspects to this answer, multiple layers, but here’s the two things that came immediately to mind for me.

One. First of all, there’s the aspect of yes, a good senior developer is “right a lot”, in terms of knowing how to solve hard problems and knowing what the right answer is. But there’s a VERY important aspect to this, which is not just knowing what the answer is because “I am right”, but knowing…

What the right answer is, for the team, and for the customer, and for this specific situation.

And then just as important, having everyone else on board and aligned that this is the right answer. Because sometimes the objectively-best technical answer is NOT the correct answer for the specific situation, for various business, process, or customer constraint reasons. And also, it is important for everyone else to be in agreement that this is the best answer, and also because it helps them out as well. One of the reasons this is related to soft skills is because this is not raw technical talent. This is extensive experience and deep industry and business knowledge.

Two. The second is, lifting up everyone else with those correct answers. Part of building consensus is you have earned the trust of everyone around you. And a large part of that comes from you helping them with their own personal goals. Again, this is not just about the senior developer “being right”. This is about helping everyone else with their careers and journey.

Bring candid, I’m pretty darn senior where I’m at, so when it comes to “taking credit” or “being right”, I don’t really care. I’m probably as high as I can go. I am perfectly happy with helping the more junior people around me, leading them through the conversation to where we get to “the right answer” and they were part of it, and maybe even take the credit. That’s fine. Take the credit, grow your career, because hopefully you learned a thing or to and gained some of that aforementioned “extensive experience”, and someday will be a Good Senior Developer in your own right.

(As for my own credit, trust me. It will not be invisible to your leadership that all of the people and projects you are involved with are successful, even if everyone else “gets the credit”. You will be known as “the one who can be attached to a project and we can be confident it will be successful”.)