Inflated title - Staff Engineer
TL;DR Should I add "Staff Engineer" to my title as this is the L4 level at IBM to my resume to highlight a "promotion" between companies in 6 months even though it is an inflated title compare to other companies? I have accepted an offer from IBM. I'm currently a MTS2 at VMWARE equivalent to a high L3 at Google. The IBM offer is Band 7 - Staff Engineer which is equivalent to L4. This is a vertical move but I have the same title as before. I got the MTS2 offer right out of college, when a lot of people get a MTS1 (new grad) offer, so to make sure recruiters know this I have "Software Engineer ll" in my resume to highlight that I skip a level which for the most part requires 2-4 years After this change to highlight the vertical move I'd have to add "Software Engineer - Staff Engineer" as this is the level at IBM. But the Staff Engineer is clearly a higher and more prestigious level at other companies. Should I added ? Otherwise what do I do to tell the story of moving up in the ladder? I did 1 year of internships -> Got MTS2 (L3) offer from VMWare (worked here for 6 months) -> Got Offer from IBM Staff Engineer (L4) TC: 145K YOE with internships: 1.5 YOE without internships: 0.5
That’s dumb. Don’t be dumb.
Got it, thank you. I guess if I'm applying to other roles in the future my experience should put me in that role not a title (clearly wouldn't be applying to staff)
Yep. It can waste a lot of time if lazy recruiters just go off your titles (this is VERY common) and it has to be ferreted our in your interviews. I’ve had a lot of folks in previous company that were dead set on titles and it’s really a shame to have a bunch of Principal Engineers running around who can’t start (or ship) projects.
😂😂
IBM’s band 7 is Staff. Some ppl do know about this outside of ibm. But some would call it out. I was band 7 in the past and I do have Staff in resume. FYI Band 6 - Software engineer Band 7 - Staff Band 8 - Senior Band 9 - Principle Band 10 - Distinguished I’m a little hazy on band 9+ but this is the official title, I believe
Yes, I guess it can be added and it doesn't matter if you're trying to move to L5 given the context Band 7 is the same as L4, L4 at Google is a SWE lll, I guess it's less controversial and more understandable to add SWE lll
Band 8 - advisory Band 9 - senior Band 10 - senior technical staff member (stsm) ~ industry principal engineer band c (?) - distinguished engineer
Senior staff, principal, or distinguished is better. Name yourself as CTO if you want too.
Thank you, I'll be the CEO
FYI - Band 7 is the equivalent of an SDE 1. The only reason you weren't hired as a 6 is because you have 0.5 YOE. B7 is usually given to people with a little experience, or out of grad school with an MS/MBA. To answer your question, leave it off. No one would believe you were Staff anyway with 0.5 YOE.
That's very interesting, at levels it looks like a SWE lll "It starts with Band 6A& 6B which includes graduate hires with 0 - 4 years of experience Then comes Band 7A& 7B which cover professionals with 5–9 years of experience. And then you have Band 8 & 9 with 9 - 12 years of experience" - quora
Yeah, Levels is incorrect unfortunately. Plus it doesn't help IBM uses confusing titles like Advisory Engineer when the rest of the industry uses SDE 2.
Mts1- mts 2 is no big deal in VMware. I have seen many People make the jump in an year
Yeah, I made it in 0. College->mts2. I think is just formalities to pay some people less because of experience but you do the same job
No. I’m band 8, advisory SWE. We don’t call band 7 “staff” at all, just SWE
I m sorry to say but i was a 7b at ibm when i was just 2 year of experience. Ibm bands are small. They only go till 12 and it is really hard to get a 9. 7b is not staff engineer man.
OP is B7 at 0.5 YOE I think is clear that it's not a industry standard staff engineer 😂
Don’t add staff, unless if you think you are staff level. No company would hire you as staff with 1 year of experience unless you are some kind of prodigy. Though if you were you would get meta or google or Netflix senior and be making 500k or you would go to a hedge fund or smt
Startups give staff/head of titles in exchange for high comp
I agree. You can add it if you want, but it won't mean too much.