A lot of this hits home. I like the idea of reframing the role as more of a straight engineer - probably the the SDET title has become loaded and/or widely misused. I think I probably also need to think some more about a solid career track to get SDETs into a place where they can play the role of senior engineers.

- about the challenge in the job application - I actually did another Ask HN about whether that was a good idea. Almost universal agreement that it was not ensued, so I intended it to be very optional. I've not been penalizing anyone who doesn't do it, but I immediately take notice when anyone does. Sounds like I need to go back and work on making it more clear that it's optional.