Junior coders want to argue about database design saying an employee table in the database does not need a start date and end date because the requirements don't say that. I am doing gold plating he says. He didn't care that I had been doing this over 10 years and he 0 years. Oh yea and by the way I have never been given specific requirements about database design.

I agree with start-end or active-inactive. I synch with mass notification tools which makes it critical.

Without requirements, how do you know when you're done?

What if the employee resigns and is reinstated 2 years later?

@Rahkiin true I guess a different database design would be needed. An employee table that can handle the same employee multiple times. Totally realistic scenario. People often want to over simplify database design but you really do need to think about those types of scenarios. It is not gold plating or adding extra features. Databases need to be flexible and serve multiple apps and reporting functions.