"Senior Software Engineer" is a title that sounds impressive and is a goal every engineer aspires to achieve. High-class senior engineers are in great demand in tech companies, especially in large ones, as there just aren't enough of them. During the pandemic, many people rushed into IT, resulting in the average engineer now being at the mid-level. If you are a senior engineer, you are special.
Nonetheless, getting promoted to senior engineer is an extremely difficult task, especially in FAANG companies. Many engineers face challenges transitioning from Meta level E4 to E5 and from Google level L4 to L5. The move from SDE 2 to SDE 3 at Amazon is considered the hardest of all promotions that engineers might encounter, and it can take up to 10 years.
