This makes sense to me. I was envisioning more a scenario where you spend some time in the big corporate world before going to a startup, and bringing best prac

This makes sense to me. I was envisioning more a scenario where you spend some time in the big corporate world before going to a startup, and bringing best practices with you. But I suppose in the context of the thread that’s not exactly relevant. I think if they were managing other engineers for an extended period and solving difficult technical problems as well, you could make an argument for hiring up to a team lead / senior engineer. Perhaps manager, if they have more extensive experience. Of course at most FAANGy places you will need at least 4-6yoe to be hired into these levels too. I think the people sending you those resumes probably don’t understand that they should tailor their resumes for the type of job they’re applying for. And yes, if the startup was truly “does-nothing” that’s absolutely a red mark regarding how valuable their experience was. But it could be somewhat valuable for product work, at least at the entry level