I would amend you statement by saying that more experienced developers are generally proficient at writing at a higher level of abstraction, but are more importantly also better at choosing the correct level of abstraction for the job.
I think that's really the key. When I peek into a well designed system that really fits the bill, the feeling I usually get is 'how sensible', not 'wow, this is a really great way to abstract the problem!' or 'this is kind of complicated, but very well designed!'.
The same sentiment applies pretty much everywhere, though. Humans draw their intellectual power from the ability to generalize, and so we see the same phenomena across disciplines. Writing? Most really effective writing is carefully constructed to include just the right statements, using just the right words, and nothing more.
Circuit design? Same thing. You can wire a circuit that will work (or not) in many, many ways. But when someone with experience runs across the work of an amateur, even if it's a functional circuit, it's very rare that he/she can't list off a bunch of ways the design could be fundamentally improved.
Carpentry? Yup. You can hack and nail and drill and glue something together that will work. Or--and I've seen this a lot--you can get a mechanical engineer to produce a profoundly complicated and structurally sound deck made with laser cutters and brackets made on a 6-axis CNC mill, but a seasoned carpenter can produce a much more elegant solution using a skill saw, a drill and a pencil.
I think that's really the key. When I peek into a well designed system that really fits the bill, the feeling I usually get is 'how sensible', not 'wow, this is a really great way to abstract the problem!' or 'this is kind of complicated, but very well designed!'.
The same sentiment applies pretty much everywhere, though. Humans draw their intellectual power from the ability to generalize, and so we see the same phenomena across disciplines. Writing? Most really effective writing is carefully constructed to include just the right statements, using just the right words, and nothing more.
Circuit design? Same thing. You can wire a circuit that will work (or not) in many, many ways. But when someone with experience runs across the work of an amateur, even if it's a functional circuit, it's very rare that he/she can't list off a bunch of ways the design could be fundamentally improved.
Carpentry? Yup. You can hack and nail and drill and glue something together that will work. Or--and I've seen this a lot--you can get a mechanical engineer to produce a profoundly complicated and structurally sound deck made with laser cutters and brackets made on a 6-axis CNC mill, but a seasoned carpenter can produce a much more elegant solution using a skill saw, a drill and a pencil.