[jalapenos]

That's why there's many layers after that. "Staff", "Principal, "Fellow", plus all the management ones.

At this point, senior just means: competent with hands and mouth.

And no they're not "adopting" the title, they're being given it by companies, partly due to title inflation.

And experience doesn't matter that much. I've managed devs with 3 years of experience who were excellent. I've also known devs with 20yrs+ who were absolutely useless. There's no substitute for IQ and conscientiousness.

So no, nothing's been undermined except the word "senior" taking it's original meaning of "old".