- Why do they have 4 SWE levels?
- Why is there no Senior SWE level?
- Why is there no Junior SWE level?
It seems like IC1 = Intern, IC2 = Junior, IC3 = Developer, IC4 = Senior. No idea why they're not named closer to that.
Also, do people think that these role descriptions are actually helpful? I find them extremely vague and generally unhelpful in determining if I'm performing at a particular level.
There are also other conventions we - as a society - try to break away from. So discussion and alternatives to conventions is something completely fine.
IC1 sounds like it's for new grads. Junior doesn't seem to be a popular title in the bay area. One or two are probably Senior levels.
I find it useful for how they change. Work complexity grows, timelines go from some tasks to multi-year projects, and you are expected to work more outside your team and mentor engineers.
It doesn't really give you a path to get promoted though.
- IC1 Software Engineer
- IC2 Software Engineer
- IC3 Software Engineer
- IC4 Software Engineer
- IC5 Staff Software Engineer
- IC6 Principal Software Engineer
- IC7 Sr. Principal Software Engineer
(This is on a desktop browser. Maybe you're only seeing 4 levels because you're on a mobile browser and the rest is cut off. Or maybe you indeed saw 4 levels and the site has been updated since your post.)
It's possible that they "bumped up" the intern and junior titles all into "Software Engineer" as a form of title inflation.
IC2 = mid-tier (usually 2-5 yoe)
IC3 = senior (usually minimum of 5 yoe (this maps to L5 at google))
IC4 = senior/tech lead
...
levels.fyi is also helpful for comparing with other companies.