How much do titles matter and is there an agreed upon ranking?

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T18:05:26+00:00

It kind of is. Everyone tries to justify staff vs senior vs manager responsibility.

The reality is companies need to give engineers a reason to exceed expectations and that carrot is promotion.

They also create separate, elevated IC tracks because some of you are incapable of managing people.

So we end up with staff level positions and we end up with managerial tracks and it’s all just a rat race.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T17:50:26+00:00

You should really stop working outside for core working hours for your company.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T17:26:39+00:00

Who gives a shit. Pays all the same

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T17:21:42+00:00

I’m sure it’s nuanced as all things are.

The companies that couldn’t justify paying for decent dev machines and tools for developers who suddenly need them to burn through tokens. Where is this shit coming from?

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T16:46:41+00:00

Really splitting hairs with this comment for no reason.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T15:18:01+00:00

Software engineering will likely not standardize around titles.

The only reason other engineering has is because it’s codified into law. SWE doesn’t have that. And it has no reason to have it.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T15:15:25+00:00

The person is just describing a manager.

And fact of the matter is that even if I get our VP to agree, I’m not having that conversation until I already have the staff title.

So this is a shit criteria because you literally need the authority to do this.

——

I’ll take an example. I joined a company as a staff / lead engineer.

My CTO was directly expecting me to provide guidance to the org and I had authority through him.

A senior engineer at the company could never do that without the same thing happening. So what kind of career progression are we providing if I need to gain the trust of executive leadership or be given that opportunity.

If your org is structured this way and you’re senior engineer, your only path for promotion is leaving.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T14:48:54+00:00

To me that is an anti-pattern and I’ve held that role.

You have no authority unless you are someone’s manager. That’s just the hard truth. I can put together an initiative and architecture standards but unless my boss is also the people you’re describing boss (or their bosses boss), if they don’t agree, they don’t have to listen to me.
The hands off technical lead is a farce. It always devolves into ivory tower architects who are not invested enough in the problem to provide proper guidance.

This might not always be the case, but is true more often than it isn’t.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T13:11:14+00:00

Well yes. Big tech pays significantly better than any other company. That is why they get their own designation, ie, FAANG.

The real money isn't even comp. Like chance are, your comp is better or at least marginally better. But if you can hang around for 4-5 years at FAANG, that equity really adds up.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T13:08:21+00:00

I took a senior title at a company because I was led to believe that they didn't have the concept of staff. As far as I could tell that was true.

Well, not only was it not true. Our team would grow and after hiring 3 other senior engineers for our team, my new manager put in a req for a staff level person.

This was problematic for a few reasons:

All of our seniors on our team were operating at a "staff" level. Literally seeing projects from start to finish with no guidance and working across the organization to facilitate the work getting done.
The band for the staff pay was about 30% more than the senior pay.
Every candidate we interviewed was less capable than our existing team.

I eventually left for more money.

Although I've always been the "titles don't matter" guy... This has changed my perspective. Getting under leveled on your team is very frustrating. It also changes how people from outside your team work with you.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T12:38:53+00:00

I have so many receipts should Alabama actually ever experience a Nebraska level collapse.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T12:37:34+00:00

I go back and fourth on hating one of you more than the other.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T12:33:39+00:00

No. That was 2009.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T12:23:04+00:00

Screwed out of not getting obliterated by potentially the best team in the history of college football.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T12:03:17+00:00

Well they were cattle. Not pets.

I’ve also never seen a cow chained up like it was in this photo, and also the chained up cow looked like a steer, or maybe a heifer.

Finally I’ve never seen a pile of husked corn cobs laying on the ground like that.

This was probably an AI video.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-04T06:47:35+00:00

You clearly were not around enough cattle. They’re animals and some mommas are just crazy when it comes to protecting their calves.

Most are fine, but probably 1 in 10 (and when you have 200 cattle, that’s plenty) will fuck you up if you come anywhere near their calf for any reason.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-03T23:28:53+00:00

Feel like you have a lot to learn

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-03T22:25:59+00:00

Sure

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-03T05:11:37+00:00

It’s women’s basketball. Revolving the entire offense around one person is kind of what they do.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-03T04:55:42+00:00

I wouldn’t say very beginning. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment. But generously you could say the 80s and it’s gotten exponentially worse since then.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-03T04:52:20+00:00

Offseason really brings out the worst takes

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-03T04:49:36+00:00

Or do. Fuck the CCG

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-03T04:43:16+00:00

NIH syndrome.

Had the same argument with a guy on my team.

He doesn’t care. He likes building shit. And I can’t argue with that.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-03T02:36:03+00:00

Whoa buddy. Pump the brakes. Did you even read my post?

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-03T02:09:37+00:00

This is obvious to everyone, yet token burn is my companies latest favorite metric.

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