[kbanman]

Having been in your position, I understand that having built a product from the ground up makes you feel like you are qualified to do anything. I was lucky enough to get hired at a late-stage startup after my endeavor failed, and am constantly reminded that time in the industry matters. Two years of intense coding is worth a lot, but you've only been exposed to a limited set of problems, both technical and business. 6+ years sounds reasonable to me if they are looking for someone with well-rounded experience.

Mind you, as someone else mentioned, some folks spend 6 years in the industry and don't gain the knowledge and experience you already have, but that doesn't mean you've attained 6 years worth of knowledge and experience.

[baron816]

I don't claim to be as good as someone with six years of experience (I'm not delusional). Nor am I claiming that there are no companies that need to hire senior engineers. I'm well aware of many types of problems for which I am not qualified to solve. What I am asking is, does EVERY company need to exclusively hire senior engineers? I've interviewed at companies whose product was not much more than a CRUD app, and, despite performing fairly well in a technical assessment, was rejected for lack of experience (even though they could see how much experience I had right on my resume).

Most companies don't need the best of the best of the best. They can save a lot of time and money by hiring someone who, with just a little bit of investigation, they know is going to come in with some decent technical skills, and can quickly learn to become a valuable asset.

[falsedan]

Companies with that mindset invest heavily in interns: you get a three-month work sample in your working environment & can (initially) offer them less than an experienced engineer.

Most companies have problems they needs solving right now or in the near future, not when an intern gets experienced enough to tackle it.

> come in with some decent technical skills, and can quickly learn to become a valuable asset

This sounds like you described a consultant.