[Xcelerate]

Yeah, I hesitated to mention that as the post was already getting a bit long. I’ve always wondered what would happen if you took a random high performing junior engineer and just immediately gave them control over a large part of the company. Or vice versa—a level 8 engineer pretends to be a junior engineer and joins another company at level 3.

I suspect the degree of comfort and familiarity that people have in these situations has a lot to do with their potential to influence company outcomes. The junior engineer would still have very little impact when immediately given a VP role and likely proxy their decision-making through others at that level, but they would learn to adapt much quicker than someone going slowly from level 3 to 4 to 5, etc. (assuming the pressure didn’t cause them to quit). There’s a reason people say joining a startup accelerates career growth at the next company.

On the other hand, the level 8 engineer would immediately get themselves invited to discussions at a higher level, because they already have the social skills required to interact in those meetings. It’s not that most junior engineers can’t set up these meetings on others’ calendars—it’s that they don’t want to because they know they’ll stand out like a sore thumb in the discussions.

There’s definitely an element of luck involved with being in the right situations so you have the opportunity to make a larger impact, and once you do, you’re more comfortable with putting yourself in situations where you can do that again. So it is self-fulfilling in a sense. But there’s also a personality component, as more ambitious people (at least within the context of a corporate environment) are willing to take on more risk of embarrassing themselves by potentially failing at a higher level.

[yobbo]

Hypothetically, anything can happen.

A "senior" cosplaying as junior can easily turn into conflict and deadlock when people feel their toes being stepped on by someone beneath them.

A junior cosplaying as senior reflects a situation with nepotism or favouritism. They are typically routed-around, quietly, by the people with relevant competence and jobs to do.

Real believable seniority is actually important in eliminating friction.