Comment by JustExAWS

The original poster who you are replying to was answering an orthogonal but related question and they both are true.

1. It is easier to make more money by being hired than by being promoted or not even being promoted and just kept at market rates for doing your current job. I addressed that in a sibling reply.

2. It’s easier to come in at a higher level than to be promoted to a higher level. To get “promoted” at BigTech there is a committee, promo docs where you have to document how you have already been working at that level and your past reviews are taken into account.

To come in that level you control the narrative and only have to pass 5-6 rounds of technical and behavioral interviews.

If I came into my current company at a level below staff, it would have taken a couple of years to be promoted to my current staff position (equivalent to a senior at AWS) and a few successful projects. All I had to do was interview well and tell the stories I wanted to tell about my achievements over the past 4 years. I didn’t have to speak on failures.