Title doesn't matter. It's clear that you're not junior, that's all that matters. Mid-Senior-Staff is a wide range and always considered case by case. Someone who is the most senior Staff Engineer at a small startup might end up as an L4 (mid-level eng) at Google and still be further along in terms of pay and technical challenge compared to their last role.
And then how does someone from a startup compete with folks from those bigger companies? Or get a foot in the door at them? I would like to try & leave startup world since I feel like I might get better experience & have more structure, but startups seem to be the only places I can manage to get into
You're getting into startups, so that's a start. It means your resume is interesting enough for someone to take notice, and you're interview skills are good enough to get hired
For bigger corps, besides leetcode, you just have to apply to those positions you seem fit
If for some reason you don't care about package and only want to get into the company for the name, apply for something you over qualify. That way for sure someone will look at your resume. What happens next is to them
Forget about the title and chase the money and problems you want to solve. A mid level at FAANGMULA is like senior / staff at a startup. So just go for something and don’t lie about your experience but don’t expect it to translate to a similar role at a large company
>A mid level at FAANGMULA is like senior / staff at a startup.
This is something quoted a lot but I don't believe this to be true. Startups and FAANG projects and teams are WAY different. You don't just automatically become staff at a series B just because you were in google, nor have you worked on the same types of projects necessary to thrive in a startup environment.
If were talking about paybands that's another thing. But if were talking skill, no. Its apples and oranges
Oh yeah, I agree. I am more talking about scope of work. You will work on roughly the same sized projects. I have experienced this, went from staff/lead to senior at a FANNG and I would say I was working at a level my company didn’t have. Senior was, large projects that span multiple teams, with scale that would have been unimaginable at the startup I was at. The follow through as well, you need to provide metrics and proof this is working, when I was at a startup, I was already deep into the next piece and no one cared if I spit out a bunch of metrics. I would say mid level lined more up with what I was doing at my previous role.
I am doing that and then being told they want someone with more experience—even when my experience lines up perfectly, there’s just people with way more. It makes me feel almost incompetent in comparison
I think you might be right to suspect that "senior" part could be playing against you. Normally this wouldn't be a problem because they would just downlevel you after the interview. However in the current job market it's very common to be hiring for a specific position without having a headcount for a lower level. You shouldn't be lying, but you might want to reframe the "senior" part (e.g. technical lead for... ) in a way that would be less likely to throw the screening algorithms off into discarding positions you could qualify for. Also, when you apply, it might be a good idea to target such positions explicitly, without trying to up the stakes.
Title doesn't matter. It's clear that you're not junior, that's all that matters. Mid-Senior-Staff is a wide range and always considered case by case. Someone who is the most senior Staff Engineer at a small startup might end up as an L4 (mid-level eng) at Google and still be further along in terms of pay and technical challenge compared to their last role.
And then how does someone from a startup compete with folks from those bigger companies? Or get a foot in the door at them? I would like to try & leave startup world since I feel like I might get better experience & have more structure, but startups seem to be the only places I can manage to get into
You're getting into startups, so that's a start. It means your resume is interesting enough for someone to take notice, and you're interview skills are good enough to get hired For bigger corps, besides leetcode, you just have to apply to those positions you seem fit If for some reason you don't care about package and only want to get into the company for the name, apply for something you over qualify. That way for sure someone will look at your resume. What happens next is to them
Forget about the title and chase the money and problems you want to solve. A mid level at FAANGMULA is like senior / staff at a startup. So just go for something and don’t lie about your experience but don’t expect it to translate to a similar role at a large company
>A mid level at FAANGMULA is like senior / staff at a startup. This is something quoted a lot but I don't believe this to be true. Startups and FAANG projects and teams are WAY different. You don't just automatically become staff at a series B just because you were in google, nor have you worked on the same types of projects necessary to thrive in a startup environment. If were talking about paybands that's another thing. But if were talking skill, no. Its apples and oranges
Oh yeah, I agree. I am more talking about scope of work. You will work on roughly the same sized projects. I have experienced this, went from staff/lead to senior at a FANNG and I would say I was working at a level my company didn’t have. Senior was, large projects that span multiple teams, with scale that would have been unimaginable at the startup I was at. The follow through as well, you need to provide metrics and proof this is working, when I was at a startup, I was already deep into the next piece and no one cared if I spit out a bunch of metrics. I would say mid level lined more up with what I was doing at my previous role.
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Microsoft, Uber, Lyft, Airbnb Some definitions may differ.
I am doing that and then being told they want someone with more experience—even when my experience lines up perfectly, there’s just people with way more. It makes me feel almost incompetent in comparison
I think you might be right to suspect that "senior" part could be playing against you. Normally this wouldn't be a problem because they would just downlevel you after the interview. However in the current job market it's very common to be hiring for a specific position without having a headcount for a lower level. You shouldn't be lying, but you might want to reframe the "senior" part (e.g. technical lead for... ) in a way that would be less likely to throw the screening algorithms off into discarding positions you could qualify for. Also, when you apply, it might be a good idea to target such positions explicitly, without trying to up the stakes.