I don't see title inflation being too big an issue at large companies. At my megacorp we have fairly well defined expectations at each level and managers calibr

I don't see title inflation being too big an issue at large companies. At my megacorp we have fairly well defined expectations at each level and managers calibrate across teams. It's basically: - junior, fresh out of school and is basically expected to do whatever task they are told to - mid, a few years in and can define their own work within a project - senior (many stop here), can manage their own projects, but limited influence outside the team. Expected to mentor juniors and work with partners - staff, a lot less coding, lots of digital ink spilled recently on what staff engineers do :) basically influence the entire team and help set technical direction - principal, basically a mega staff engineer, influences a larger organization. Called in to solve the hairiest problems. - senior principal, can bend spacetime at will