"Enough" experience?

I will say, upfront, that ‘experience’ is one of my bug-bears. I am constantly amazed by the difference between what I’d call ‘senior’ (6-8 years, with or without a masters degree) and what recruiters deem to be acceptable (2 years + a masters degree). 

As Oscar Wilde said,  "Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing."  So true. I have seen far too many mid-weights who feel like they have been working forever, desperate to become seniors. It may be just a money-thing but, from my point of view, its a disaster. Surely, to be a senior is akin to being a “master” of one’s trade. So that means you need to have quite a few skills - as opposed to techniques you may have tried once, or know someone who has! Would any of us be happy with a surgeon who’d had such little experience? Or even a bus driver, who’d only driven around the block a couple of times? “Puleeeese”, as they say. 

What’s more, seniors manage people. Not too well, if they have no experience of being managed themselves. Classic example of the blind leading the blind. That’s not to say, being managed for longer will improve anyone’s management skills, but it will give them a pool of knowledge to draw from, even if its ideas on what not to do. 

Patience is an undervalued quality these days. We all need to do our apprenticeship, serve our time and really learn our trade before we unleash ourselves onto the world at large. Its not actually fair to either ourselves or our clients. Lack of experience will deliver amateur solutions. And, when it comes to work, I don’t think that ignorance should be bliss. Confucius said "Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." And we all know he was one smart guy.