The coding offers of the descending ladder “, explains the old Meta Manager

In the chaotic world of the technological labor market, where programmers of all levels are in competition for a number of narrowing openings, candidates could obtain a coveted offer – only to feel a kind of bait and change.

Stefan Mai, co -founder of the startup between interview hello interview and former senior engineering director at Meta, told Business Insider that some job seekers have finally hung management positions, only for hiring managers to withdraw their original offers. An offer for a lower level role is in the extended place.

Say hello to “Downleveling”. May has written a lot about practice in an article in “the pragmatic engineer”.

“Hiring managers and companies that examine candidates generally make this risk determination,” said May to BI. “It’s a bit like:” okay, we don’t have all the evidence that this person can succeed at this level. What do you know? What if we extend an offer to a level for which we have more evidence? “”

Leveling itself is a standard practice in engineering interviews, said May. This only means that the interviewer was measuring the candidate’s competence against a certain bar – more junior such as L1 / L2 to highly desirable L6 or L7 roles.

“The leveling for software engineers is essentially where you have a numerical value defined mainly by seniority, and it is accompanied by different responsibilities at each higher level,” he said. “When you interview a business, you generally interview a specific level.”

Overcoming the decline, said May, occurs when a company determines that it still wants on board a candidate – but not for the role they were initially questioned to fulfill.

Although the discharge concept is not new, according to May, the fiercely competitive market has become more conducive to practice. With more candidates than ever to choose, companies are less willing to launch the dice on someone who almost Responds to their list of requirements, rather than checking each box.

“I think that recently, the recruitment market has become as they have many more candidates, so their appetite to take this risk is decreased,” he said. “Now there are generally enough candidates in the pipeline, especially for large companies.”

And if a candidate rejects a department’s offer, he added, it is unlikely that the job managers had to wait a long time for someone else to jump on the occasion.

May then described a work experience with a customer who was pursuing a senior position at Meta. He said that the candidate had cleaned the interview process for their ideal higher level role, but an intermediate level position was then offered to them. May said that the company has cited a new policy that required six years of experience for advanced positions. Having no better options, Maid said that the candidate had chosen to accept.

“It is unknown to me. I think, you know, if I was still a job manager at Meta, I would have made a huge heckling, because I think it is deeply unfair for the candidate, and that does not reflect the business,” he said. “To be honest, I think they returned essentially to what they had said.”

Meta did not immediately respond to a comment request by Business Insider.

So, is it never a good idea to take a department’s offer? For those who are hungry to enter large technological companies, May said that it was.

“It really depends on the individual. So, for a bunch of candidates, by setting foot at the door like a large company like Google or Meta means that, in subsequent job changes, you will have much easier,” he said. “There is somehow this shortage in the great technology that I think people know very well.”

Despite the temptation to take the news personally, May encourage candidates to stay cool and think about whether their new offer could still benefit their careers.

“In many cases, it is in a way in general our advice. When the candidates have happened to them, we ask them to objectively look at what they are offered, and not the emotional genre of” hey, I had something less than what I expected, “he said.” These expectations are not so useful. “

That being said – if you already have a seat at the table, you could be better positioned to be purer.

“Let’s say that you are already in Big Tech,” said May. “Accept that the descent can be a bad decision. It could bring you back in your career. It could mean several years before reaching the right level. There are a kind of lots of different considerations.”

These job seekers face decisions like these, however, betray a brutal reality of the recruitment market for software developers.

“I think people are more desperate now, so they are ready to accept these lower offers,” said May.