Professional Senior-Level Software Development

Sean Haneberg
Senior Software Engineer Hulu - The Walt Disney Company

Stevenson Hall 1300
12:00 PM - 12:50 PM

Healthy software development teams often hold individuals who have significant experience to higher expectations than entry-level or "junior" contributors. Usually, organizations mark this differentiated scope and responsibility with a title like "Senior Software Developer."  When considering a career in software development, it's natural to focus on those immediate concerns around becoming a successful entry-level developer. However, an understanding of those "senior" expectations and practices that developers will encounter in the medium and long-term is invaluable for new professionals looking to bring their own career plans into focus.

So, how do Senior Software Developers impact the products they build? What strategies might Senior Developers use to empower their teams to be more effective? I'll discuss patterns I've noticed in the 17 years I’ve worked as a software developer in the consumer electronics domain. Drawing on my experiences contributing to large-scale products and services such as Xbox, HoloLens, Sonos, and Hulu, I will share some examples of impactful Senior-level deliverables. Audiences will gain a clearer understanding of how professional software development works on large teams through this survey of some of the novel ways individual contributors can make positive team-wide contributions.