In the chaotic world of the tech job market, where programmers of all levels are competing for a shrinking number of openings, candidates could secure a coveted offer — only to experience a bait-and-switch of sorts.
Stefan Mai, cofounder of interview-prep startup Hello Interview and former senior engineering manager at Meta, told Business Insider that some job seekers finally snag senior positions, only for hiring managers to retract their original offers. An offer for a lower-level role is extended instead.
Say hello to “downleveling.” Mai wrote extensively about the practice in a post for “The Pragmatic Engineer.”
“Hiring managers and companies that are kind of looking at candidates are usually making this risk determination,” Mai told BI. “It’s kind of like, ‘Okay, we don’t have all of the evidence this person can be successful at this level. You know what? What if we extend them an offer at a level that we have more evidence for?’”
Leveling itself is standard practice in engineering interviews, Mai said. It only means the interviewer will be measuring the candidate’s competency against a certain bar — from more junior tiers such as L1/L2 all the way up to highly desirable senior L6 or L7 roles.
“Leveling for software engineers is basically where you have a numeric value that’s defined mostly by seniority, and it comes with different responsibilities at each higher level,” he said. “When you interview with a company, usually you’re interviewing for a specific level.”
Downleveling, Mai said, occurs when a company determines they still want to onboard a candidate — just not for the role they were originally interviewed to fill.
Though the concept of downleveling isn’t new, according to Mai, the fiercely competitive market has become more conducive to the practice. With more candidates than ever to choose from, companies are less willing to roll the dice on someone who almost meets their list of requirements, rather than checking every box.
“I think recently, the hiring market has become such that they’ve got lots more candidates coming through, so their appetite for taking on that risk is diminished,” he said. “Now, there’s generally enough candidates in the pipeline, especially for the bigger companies.”
And if a candidate does reject a downleveled offer, he added, hiring managers are unlikely to have to wait long for someone else to jump at the chance.
Mai went on to describe an experience working with a client who was chasing a senior position at Meta. He said the candidate cleared the interview process for their ideal, senior-level role, but they were later offered a midlevel position. Mai said the company cited a new policy that required six years of experience for advanced positions. Having no better options, Maid said the candidate chose to accept.
“That’s unheard of to me. I think, you know, if I was actually still a hiring manager at Meta, I would have been making a huge ruckus out of this, because I think that’s deeply unfair to the candidate, and it reflects poorly on the company,” he said. “To be honest, I think that they basically went back on what they had said.”
Meta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by Business Insider.
So, is it ever a good idea to take a downleveled offer? For those hungry to break into big-name tech companies, Mai said it might be.
“It really depends on the individual. So, for a bunch of candidates, getting your foot in at the door at like, a big company like Google or Meta means that, in subsequent job changes, you’re going to have a much easier time,” he said. “There’s kind of this breaking into Big Tech that I think people are very familiar with.”
Despite the temptation to take the news personally, Mai encourages candidates to remain cool-headed and reflect on whether their new offer might still benefit their careers.
“In a lot of cases, that’s kind of generally our advice. When candidates have this happen to them, we ask them to look objectively at what they’re being offered, and not the emotional kind of response of, ‘Hey, I got something lower than I was expecting,’” he said. “Those expectations aren’t all that helpful.”
That being said — if you’ve already got a seat at the table, you might be better positioned to be pickier.
“Say you’re already in Big Tech,” Mai said. “Accepting that downlevel might actually be a bad move. It could be pulling you back in your career. It might mean several years before you get to the correct level. There’s kind of a bunch of different considerations.”
That job seekers are facing decisions like these, though, betrays a brutal reality of the hiring market for software developers.
“I think people are more desperate now, and so they’re willing to accept these lower offers,” Mai said.
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