Well, if we're going to talk about edge cases, I also see the opposite: people who are allegedly at EM or staff levels coming in for phone screen interviews and

Well, if we're going to talk about edge cases, I also see the opposite: people who are allegedly at EM or staff levels coming in for phone screen interviews and only getting a recommendation to move forward at senior level. One thing that became apparent to me is that despite companies having rubrics for levels, the actual levels vary a lot, certainly between companies but even between teams as well. Perhaps it speaks to the idea of "getting promoted until your ceiling of competence" that standardization of levels across organizations is a concern that typically only gets tackled at around ~L8+ in the tech career ladder. Or, of course, as you alluded, maybe the problem is simply that hard by its very nature.