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Ask HN: How do I stop companies from up-leveling me? Am I underselling myself?

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Ask HN: How do I stop companies from up-leveling me? Am I underselling myself?

#1

Post by allthemcodes »

I have a BS in CS and between 4.5-5 years of experience in mostly backend and some full-stack development. I consider myself a solid intermediate level engineer. Likely not too junior, but definitely not senior. I generally apply to SWE II positions, but then recruiters/hiring managers say I would be a better fit for SWE III roles. When I apply to mid-level positions, recruiters/hiring managers decide I'm a better fit for senior roles.

Honestly, I'm not that good. I'm a super mediocre coder. I try to be really transparent with my work experience and skill set and I acknowledge that I have weaknesses that need fixing and plenty of learning still left ahead. I never go into an interview and tell people I'm amazing. My attitude is more like "Eh, yeah I'm pretty decent I guess. I want to be awesome one day though, so looking forward to the learning experience at your company, it's a great opportunity, thanks for your time." I'm just afraid that potential employers think I'm capable of doing things that in reality I cannot do, and I don't want to go into the job and eventually get fired if I fail to meet the expectations that I was hired based on. I don't know if I can go against these employers and say, "No, I want to be a SWE 2 not a 3. No, I'm a mid-level SWE, not a senior. Interview me with that in mind and stop having such high expectations of me." I can't tell if I'm potentially lacking confidence, or if I'm misrepresenting my work experience to seem more impactful than it really was.

Re: Ask HN: How do I stop companies from up-leveling me? Am I underselling myself?

#3

Post by drunkpotato »

There comes a time when your internal expectations don’t align with the world, and this is one of those times. The days when “senior” meant a decade or more of experience are long gone. Now the industry has decided that 5 years is a senior software engineer, 10 years is a principal. Enjoy the higher pay while it lasts.

Re: Ask HN: How do I stop companies from up-leveling me? Am I underselling myself?

#5

Post by gcheong »

There will always, or eventually, be a point at every company where you will be tasked with something you haven't done before. At least if you're at a company that has challenging things to do. And for the most part you will be on your own. How good you get is pretty much up to you - no company cares much about mentoring or training except in superficial ways. That's been my experience at least. It seems these days Senior Engineer is a title given to basically anyone that isn't straight out of a bootcamp or college with a couple years or more under their belt.

Re: Ask HN: How do I stop companies from up-leveling me? Am I underselling myself?

#6

Post by quickthrower2 »

LogicX wrote: post #2

You’re technical and have self-awareness of failings? I’d hire you to be a manager. I wouldn’t be worried you can’t learn and grow.

Wow sounds like the bar is low in this thread’s bubble. Is this FAANG land? Weird because it’s famously hard to get through those interviews. Interested from across a pond.

Re: Ask HN: How do I stop companies from up-leveling me? Am I underselling myself?

#7

Post by allthemcodes »

gcheong wrote: post #5

There will always, or eventually, be a point at every company where you will be tasked with something you haven't done before. At least if you're at a company that has challenging things to do. And for the most part you will be on your own. How good you get is pretty much up to you - no company cares much about mentoring or training except in superficial ways. That's been my experience at least. It seems these days S…

So basically it doesn't matter which level you're hired for, because you'll have to teach yourself how to do the job regardless (with minimal training/mentoring)?

Re: Ask HN: How do I stop companies from up-leveling me? Am I underselling myself?

#9

Post by gcheong »

allthemcodes wrote: post #7
gcheong wrote: post #5

There will always, or eventually, be a point at every company where you will be tasked with something you haven't done before. At least if you're at a company that has challenging things to do. And for the most part you will be on your own. How good you get is pretty much up to you - no company cares much about mentoring or training except in superficial ways. That's been my experience at least. It seems these days S…

So basically it doesn't matter which level you're hired for, because you'll have to teach yourself how to do the job regardless (with minimal training/mentoring)?

That's mostly been my experience. If you've got more than a couple years experience most companies expect you to perform with minimal direction beyond showing you where the code is. Perhaps I'm just cynical, which is a good possibility so grain of salt and all that, and your mileage may vary. You may consider asking in the interview where the interviewer feels their skills are today relative to where they were when they joined and how they got to that level. That doesn't mean I haven't worked with great people - and I think you should look for those people - who in some way have helped me level up my skill, but it's never been under any kind of formal or defined process or company value system.

Re: Ask HN: How do I stop companies from up-leveling me? Am I underselling myself?

#10

Post by Chyzwar »

There is no industry standard for SWE. In startup 5 years experience might be senior but in S&P500 might be just a mid level.

Listen to theirs expectations. Senior position might be not necessary scary. A lot of places expect more communications/mentoring skills than coding from senior.

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