At Howdy.com, we use a consistent and structured process to evaluate developer seniority. That means when we say someone is junior, mid, or senior, it’s based on real-world experience and performance — not resume buzzwords.
In this article, we explain how we determine developer levels during our hiring process.
What do Junior, Mid, and Senior mean?
We'll start with a quick explanation of how we define junior, mid, and senior talent:
- Junior. Junior developers at Howdy are characterized by strong technical fundamentals and a growth mindset. While they benefit from mentorship and structure, junior devs execute tasks reliably, communicate effectively, and ramp up quickly in real-world environments.
- Mid. Mid-level developers are proven contributors who write production-ready code, take ownership of features, and help shape team practices. They collaborate well across teams, mentor junior peers, and consistently deliver quality work with minimal oversight.
- Senior. Senior developers are engineering leaders with at least a decade of experience. They drive complex initiatives, influence architectural decisions, and align their work with business goals. In addition to mentoring across teams, they improve processes and elevate code.
Howdy's internal competency matrix
To help us evaluate talent consistently and fairly, we use an internal competency matrix inspired by leading frameworks like CircleCI’s. Our interviewers use this matrix to map observations from each round, giving us a consistent view of each candidate’s level.
Our matrix covers five key categories:
- Technical skills. We assess how well candidates write, test, and debug code, as well as their understanding of software architecture.
- Delivery. We look at how reliably candidates complete tasks, manage time, and contribute to shipping high-quality code.
- Feedback and collaboration. We evaluate how candidates communicate, participate in code reviews, and work with teammates.
- Leadership. We measure initiative, mentorship, and the ability to guide others through complex challenges.
- Strategic impact. We consider how candidates align technical decisions with business goals and influence outcomes across teams.
Final classification is a team decision
Developer levels are primarily assessed in the third-round technical interview, where a Howdy engineer manager (EM) evaluates the candidate’s coding, debugging, and problem-solving skills. The hiring manager makes the final call based on feedback from the EM and all interviewers.
Here's what goes into our ultimate decision.
- Years of hands-on development experience. We look at how long a candidate has worked in software development — and in what context — to understand how their experience translates into impact.
- Technical skills. We assess candidates' writing, testing, and debugging skills, as well as their understanding of software architecture.
- Scope and complexity of past work. We review the kinds of projects candidates have worked on and the role they played, whether executing tasks, leading teams, or making architectural decisions.
The result: Clients can count on accurate, consistent talent classification — every time.
Book a demo to learn how we find the right level of developer for your team.