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

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.

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.

I have the opposite issue, also have around 5 years of experienced, for more than once I have been perceived as a junior during interviews and then after working for 2-3 months managers and teams would throw comments like “we under-leveled you, let’s get you a promo and fix it” “you’re more senior than I thought”. I don’t know what gives the impression during interviews and it’s starting to frustrate me, I just want to be brought in at the right level that reflects what I’m able to offer. I’m a woman if that matters at all and I wonder if anyone else has encountered that and can offer some advice.

I think you over estimating what a SWE III/senior dev is.

Also, it's possible the what your asking for salary wise is more senior level. So to pay you correctly you need XYZ title.

> 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.

When you understand what you don't know, you become mature and journey towards excellence starts. So don't underestimate yourself, you'r on right path. Just stay passionate and curious. It will pay you off in long run. (I might be wrong, but in my experience people who talk loud knew very less)

> 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.

Don't bother with these thoughts. If you get selected, it means you're a good fit (Again don't underestimate your interviewers). I was in similar dilemma before, but it worked out well.

> 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.

Everything depends on organization structure & culture. Designation doesn't play big role always. Things change across project to project and people to people. You may end up with no responsibility or all responsibility.

Also instead of planning career in SWE2/3/4, consider below categories based on responsibilities and skillset required.

- IC (SWE2/3/4/architect)

- Manager (Delivery Manager/Product Owners/Program Managers etc)

- Executives (Directors/Managers/VPs)

- Enterprenures

So if you're SWE2, you can easily SURVIVE as SWE3/4/architect.

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.

Apart from the technical side of things, there is a level of maturity regarding behavior and high level approach that comes into play. Maybe you have these traits naturally, thus ppl assume you are a senior developer.

I wouldn’t get too stuck in levels (junior, senior, principal, etc.). They don’t map between companies the way you’d expect.

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.

I have a similar issue. I'm also wondering if I'm selling myself short (prior to switching stacks). I also get many more emails for senior dev positions even though I'm midlevel.

I'd say give it a shot.