Senior is the new intermediate (a title I haven't seen in ages). At my last several employers, people would go from associate/junior/entry/whatever directly to

Senior is the new intermediate (a title I haven't seen in ages). At my last several employers, people would go from associate/junior/entry/whatever directly to senior. Usually within 1-2 years from coming out of college (sometimes 2 years-ish out of coding bootcamp for particularly bright folks). That meant basically everyone was Senior if they weren't fresh out of school. And then getting to the next step up (which had various names... Lead, Principal, Staff, level 3, whatever), is always excruciatingly hard, because it's where people start expecting more than "We didn't fire you for 2 years" and actually look at performance, and there's no title in between. I've seen companies promote people to senior from being out of school without internships in just a few months, then need 7-10 years of experience to get to the next level. For anyone who actually cares about career tracks, that seriously kills it.