Job title downgraded after interview
I applied for a principal software engineering role and had a job interview a few weeks ago. I have more than 18 years experience as a software engineer. Recently HR called me and said the team/hiring manager really like to bring me on board because of a skill set they really want. However, HR also said the position has been downgraded to senior software engineer because they feel I don't have enough experience with their current tech stack. My point is, if employer doesn't want the candidate they can simply pass him. If employer wants a candidate, why doing something like this which makes he very uncomfortable at the very beginning? What is the rationale behind this? How should I deal with this? (I have not yet received the offer in written yet.) Also, is this something happen often in the Bay area?
I, as a hiring manager, downgraded a candidate from lead to senior level because he was a good developer but not good enough to lead the team. There were senior engineers on the interview panel who would have left the team had he been brought as a lead and I couldn’t afford that. Candidate didn’t accept the offer even though he was offered more money than any lead on my team.
Maybe the other senior engineers should’ve left. Those senior engineers were angling for their own promotions. If they had the balls to get a better job, title, comp then they would’ve moved anyway. Dick move on your part.
Like I said: he wasn’t good enough to lead a team and that included my own assessment. It was a panel decision which included a few principal and lead engineers. He made some critical mistakes in design questions which made everyone change mind. Regarding their own promotions: at Salesforce, you don’t compete with others for promotion. It isn’t like other companies where senior engineers can’t get promoted until lead leaves.
Don’t take the offer if you’re not happy with the title. You’d rather go in happy to a new job.
Look at the money, not titles
Insist on the level if it's important to you. If they really want you, they will give you the level. Happened to me before.
I was recently in the interview panel for a principal engineer requisition (not msft). The panel met before the on-site to agree that the bar for principal was that he needed to rock all 4 interviews to meet our standards. The candidate did great on everything except the practical coding section (write up the backend and front end for a sample app in 1 hour). That was all the panel needed to downlevel him to senior. Point is, some companies will have strict standards for principal. And missing the bar slightly on one aspect will downlevel you. That’s just the reality of things.
Thanks for sharing the point. For my case, the HR did not say anything about the interview. So I believe what HR means is my resume.