[dasil003]

I generally agree, but I think it's more subtle than that. Levels and titles aren't really about productivity per se either, they're about defining role expectations and conferring authority to ICs in a corporate environment where there are hundreds or thousands of developers, and they are inextricably linked to the communication needs that dominate productivity in large organizations. They often don't even map between departments, let alone different companies, and especially at smaller companies that don't have the headcount for any meaningful calibration to exist.

From that lens, Notch's "level" when he created Minecraft is pretty much undefined. He obviously had technical and entrepreneurial skill, which gave him huge credibility, and is a fast-track to a certain title / level at acquisition time, but that says very little about his ability to meet the expectations of a Microsoft engineer that worked their way up to that level through promotions.