Why are people with PHD and VPE level experience being slotted as junior engineers? It seems like a waste of time to recruit a senior person to a junior role.
"She does have 3 years of work experience prior to graduate school, but plays down the experience as her job search is focused on a specialization she has less direct experience in." Not to mention, the significance of "VPE" at a startup depends highly on the startup.
"However, he was less comfortable jumping into thinking about a problem outside of an area of expertise." Where the area of expertise is not software engineering.
The PHD and VPE is the interviewer.