I wish people would hire you based on your skill level, and not strictly match your skill level with years of experience. Maybe someone with 10+ years of experi

I wish people would hire you based on your skill level, and not strictly match your skill level with years of experience. Maybe someone with 10+ years of experience wants to get hired as a SWE, not a Senior or Staff SWE. I have 10+ years of experience working at non-tech companies. Nominally I was a Senior SWE. However I am certain I am not at the same caliber as a Senior SWE who has spent his/her career working in Silicon Valley tech companies. I'd love to join a tech company as a midlevel engineer and work my way up again despite both my age (30s) and years of experience (10+). I've noticed there are some companies that outright disallow this. It can go like: "You have 10+ yoe, you either interview and qualify as a senior/staff SWE, or we don't want you at all regardless of whether you'd make a great midlevel SWE" That said, my suggestion is the current best way around this is to probably become a Leetcode Master. Not all companies make or break you over leetcode, but I'd say the majority still do, so you will have breadth of scope covered. Utterly wow them with your leetcode skills (which admittedly can be a completely different skillset from your day to day SWE work), and that seems like it can overcome many other perceived cons.