[wool_gather]

> new hires start as a T3

This makes me curious about what T1 and T2 would mean.

[closeparen]

Blue collar IT. Racking and stacking, help desk, event space A/V, wrangling desktops and phones, installing WiFi access points in the office, etc.

Tech companies don't pay particularly well for these things, but their benefits packages are very competitive.

[cletus]

The SWE (Software Engineer) ladder doesn't have levels below 3 (AFAIK). Other ladders do.

[mosdave]

I'm more curious about why a new hire with 20 years of experience starts at T3.

[cletus]

Yes, sorry, I worded that poorly. I really mean "new graduates (non-PhD)" not "new hires". Apologies for the confusion.

[hengri]

they dont

[namdnay]

Maybe non-engineers?