The lack of standards in defining seniority is almost as widespread in our industry as the confusion between UX and UI. This affects everyone involved in professional discussions:

  • Designers and researchers who need to prepare their resumes,
  • Professionals who need to understand what skills they need to develop to advance their careers,
  • Sales teams who need to present the team responsibly,
  • Clients who need to evaluate and compare the different proposals they receive.

One of the first voices I encountered offering useful definitions within the software industry was Diego Salama. In a very clear article he published back in 2008, he detailed what he considers to be the main differences between a Junior, Mid-Level, and Senior programmer.

His definitions have not only stood the test of time but have also had… what you might call replicas. The axes Diego proposed, which are perfectly applicable to UX and to which I add the Consultant level (along with other additions of mine, in italics), are:

Work Experience

Years of work experience in the field, excluding practical work or work in other activities.

  • Junior: Less than 2 years of experience.
  • Mid-Level: At least 2 to 6 years of experience.
  • Senior: At least 6 years of experience.
  • Consultant: At least 10 years of experience.

The number of years in the field is, of course, just one dimension. Therefore, I use “at least” in all cases.

Malcolm Gladwell’s simplification that investing 10,000 hours in a field is the differentiating factor has been widely criticized, even by the original author of the metric, as a simplification. The value of Diego Salama’s criteria lies in the additional dimensions, which reveal that a person may have Senior characteristics in one aspect and Junior characteristics in another:

Technical Knowledge

Tools, paradigms, etc., required to perform their tasks.

  • Junior: Often requires guidance.
  • Mid-Level: Technically self-sufficient.
  • Senior: Technical reference within the team.
  • Consultant: Technical reference for their professional community.

Functional Knowledge

Methodologies, standards, processes required to perform their tasks.

  • Junior: Does not know all processes or standards.
  • Mid-Level: Manages processes sufficiently to perform well. Adheres to standards and methodologies.
  • Senior: Helps define processes, methodologies, standards, and procedures. Of course, adheres to existing ones.
  • Consultant: Technical and strategic referent, capable of creating new methodologies and always seeking to improve existing ones.

Proactivity

Indicates whether the person waits for tasks to be assigned or takes a more initiative-driven approach.

  • Junior: Frequently needs task definitions. Waits for the next request. When free, doesn’t know what to do next. Depends on others to advance with their tasks.
  • Mid-Level: Concerned with using their time well. Requests new assignments when available and is self-sufficient to handle a significant part of their tasks.
  • Senior: Not only receives requests but also seeks and generates them. Often creates new assignments for their superior.
  • Consultant: Creates goals and requirements not only for their team but also for their client.

Required Supervision

Attention needed from their immediate superior.

  • Junior: Requires detailed daily supervision.
  • Mid-Level: Requires weekly and general supervision.
  • Senior: Proactively reports the status and progress of their tasks.
  • Consultant: Provides vision for the team and outlines the direction for supervision.

Productivity Indicators

Various indicators related to the work performed.

  • Junior: Quality: Low/Medium; Productivity: Low/Medium; Innovation: Little or None.
  • Mid-Level: Quality: Medium; Productivity: Medium; Innovation: Limited.
  • Senior: Quality: High; Productivity: High; Innovation: Medium/High. (Here Diego jumps from “little” for Mid-Level to “high” for Senior. Having an additional level allows for better differentiation.).
  • Consultant: Higher seniority translates not only into high or very high quality, productivity, and innovation but also into advancing the team to new areas. A Consultant’s focus is no longer on correct execution but on the strategic question of what is being done. A Consultant is distinguished not by working faster than a Senior but by achieving greater value in their questions and decisions.

Meeting Deadlines

Adherence to scheduled delivery dates.

It’s important to clarify that a professional cannot take another person’s estimates, whether from a team member or the client. It is the professional’s responsibility to make estimates and commit to them.

  • Junior: Most of the time, does not meet estimates.
  • Mid-Level: Sometimes meets, sometimes does not.
  • Senior: When deviations arise (inevitably), reports them adequately and in advance.
  • Consultant: Responsible for prioritizing and meeting deadlines for the entire team; when an inevitable deviation arises, helps others overcome it and meet deadlines.

Response Under Pressure

Refers to extreme situations… not the weekly rush.

  • Junior: Becomes blocked, anxious, confused, stressed under pressure… The outcome of their work under pressure is not good.
  • Mid-Level: Gets angry, defensive, distant, resigned under pressure… The outcome of their work under pressure, despite everything, is good.
  • Senior: Gets enthusiastic, committed, takes charge, inspires and inspires others under pressure… The outcome of their work under pressure can be outstanding.
  • Consultant: Has the ability to anticipate risks and pressure factors, maintain calm, and help find the way, turning such situations into experiences that strengthen the team.

Interpersonal Skills

The ability to communicate with their environment (mentioned by Javier Scavino).

  • Junior: May have difficulty clearly communicating their ideas. Struggles to reach actionable conclusions. Does not always know how to interact collaboratively and professionally with others.
  • Mid-Level: Can be understood but does not earn the sympathy or inspire the commitment of collaborators to support their suggestions. Listens to other points of view but continues to push for their own ideas (good and bad) to prevail.
  • Senior: Good at communicating, but mainly at listening. Can participate in high-level decisions and contribute to more operational activities if necessary, prioritizing the outcome and the quality of relationships over their authorship of ideas.
  • Consultant: Uses mentoring and coaching tools to develop the team and stakeholders, facilitates projects as a co-creation process, focuses on continuous improvement in relationships and results.

UX Dimensions

Regarding the dimensions proposed by Diego, I consider the following for our discipline:

Observation Hours

A fundamental characteristic that distinguishes UX practice from interface design (UI) is the observation of users in context by all project participants, a dimension documented by Jared Spool in 2011 and Jakob Nielsen in 2014.

Perhaps this variable is the clearest way to differentiate those who focus on informing and making design decisions based on what users experience (UX) from those who (often with great artistry and the best intentions) are on a different path: executing design decisions already made by clients.

What happens when it is revealed that a professional who considers themselves a Senior UX Designer (with a capital letter) has accumulated many fewer hours than would be typical for their level (or none)? Clearly, this is a symptom that their work experience is not occurring within the field. If this is your case, you might be interested in joining our team – or any other where your work is not only rewarded but also an investment in your career.

Business Knowledge

In his model, Diego includes business knowledge under Functional Knowledge. At least for UX, I find it more appropriate to distinguish Business Knowledge as its own dimension, following Andrés Rodríguez’s OpenUP/MMU-ISO model, which separates the domain leader role.

  • Junior: Focus and daily challenges are more on the formal aspects of execution than on the validity of the solution for the Business.
  • Mid-Level: Understands much of the business processes.
  • Senior: Relies on business knowledge to inform and achieve good design decisions.
  • Consultant: Their domain knowledge allows them to help clients make better business decisions.

Utilitas, Firmitas, Venustas

To address aspects specific to design disciplines, I find very interesting the classic triad sprouted twenty centuries ago from Vitruvius’s architectural treatise.

These criteria apply even more when discussing UX, where establishing metrics in design, usability, and business dimensions is central:

  • Utilitas (Utility): Has the professional’s work fulfilled its intended function?
    A Junior’s work will struggle to meet this criterion. A Mid-Level should achieve a solution adequate to the project’s definition.
    A Senior’s work should also be adaptable to new needs without demolishing what was built.
    A Consultant can be identified by their ability to foresee situations not initially considered… but whose satisfaction years later becomes a pattern for the industry.
  • Firmitas (Robustness): In UX, this translates to the formal consistency of deliverables.
    A Junior designer will produce pieces where definitions that should be identical (measurements, colors) differ in minor ways when compared. A Junior researcher will generate metrics difficult or impossible to compare throughout the project.
    A Mid-Level professional shows high consistency in their deliverables. A Senior’s work is noted for its impeccable quality. A Consultant’s work is a reference beyond the project.
  • Venustas (Beauty): To what extent have formal aspects withstood the test of time?
    A Junior will show quirks and hesitations typical of their current learning stage, potentially struggling to achieve a satisfactory level even at the moment the work is completed.
    A Mid-Level can handle contemporary language. A Senior creates work that endures over time. A Consultant anticipates future trends.

These three classic dimensions can only be evaluated over time. Just like a professional career.

It’s not a coincidence 🙂

Santiago Bustelo