Before I had a chance to say a word, they answered their own question. Age, then quickly changed their mind and said, "the time the individual has been in the industry".
I disagree. I know plenty of individuals that have been in the industry for over 10 years yet I would not consider them to be 'senior'.
I've been in the industry for over 20 years. I didn't wake up on my 3rd anniversary of being employed thinking I was now a middleweight designer.
Being seen as a senior design lead, a creative manager or insert your own title, it comes down to 10 key attributes. Check out this quick webpage I created where I dissected a similar question over 10 years ago.
if you can't be bothered clicking the link then, in brief, I summed up the role as a full process designer. This is a creative thinker, doer, leader and communicator. Part of the creative process is to be able to sell the outcomes to stakeholders. Document how a problem has been solved or how a product has got to where it currently is. it's being able to share ideas and offer feedback from both experience and insights.
Documentation is key.
Over the past 10 years, I have modified my documenting of projects to aid delivery times as well as seen set. This normally takes the shape of a document with a timeline of the project. Key parts of the project written up and outcomes.
There is nothing wrong with this approach, and I'll probably still carry on doing this. I'm also going to experiment with filming my time on the computer. Talking my way through what I'm doing, as I'm doing it. This will then serve as a memory log/diary for me as I progress through projects.
Whats the benefits?
Well, I'm not sure yet. I'm hoping that doing so will help me analyse my process, see if there are things I do a lot that I can automate for example. If a project seems to stall, I can look back to see if the pain points are obvious. If I'm coding something complex and the same functionality is required on a different project, I'll have a mini ready-made tutorial. I'll be able to share my work and have discussion points with individuals I'm mentoring. Or even ask my peers for feedback. Another benefit will be a very personal one to me. I do not feel comfortable on film, I don't even like my photo being taken so it's stepping out of my comfort zone.
Will this work? I'm not sure. Time is very valuable so it needs to be a process improvement and not a time leech. I intend to try it out on an up and coming project I'm doing for myself. I won't be editing the films (unless I need to). It's going to be warts and all as it's not intended for anybody other than me at this stage. Lets, see how it goes.