The tech industry has a title problem. Walk into any startup or established tech company today, and you’ll find armies of “Senior” engineers, designers, and product managers who haven’t yet celebrated their 30th birthdays. These aren’t prodigies revolutionizing their fields, they’re often competent professionals who’ve simply stayed at one company long enough to earn the promotion.

The Tenure Trap: When Time Served Trumps Expertise

Companies are promoting people based on tenure rather than the breadth of experience, leadership qualities, and strategic impact we traditionally associate with senior roles.

These “senior” professionals often possess deep knowledge of their specific company’s systems and processes but lack the cross-organizational perspective that comes from navigating different environments, technologies, and business models. Their expertise is narrow, deep in one vertical but shallow across the broader industry landscape.

This isn’t about age discrimination, it’s about experience inflation that devalues what “senior” should actually mean.

Why Companies Hand Out Titles Like Candy

The motivation behind title inflation isn’t subtle. Smaller companies especially use inflated titles as currency when they can’t compete on salary. Promoting internally is often cheaper than hiring experienced talent from outside, even if the internal candidate isn’t truly ready for the responsibilities.

But the problem extends beyond budget constraints. Some employees get promoted because they threaten to leave, and management gets spooked. Others advance through exceptional office politics, they network well, shout loudly about their contributions, and generally make themselves liked enough that promotion becomes easier.

The most cynical view? Title inflation is the tech industry’s participation trophy, a way to keep employees engaged without actually investing in their development or compensation.

The Scope vs. Experience Dilemma

There’s a legitimate argument that “senior” should relate to scope rather than pure experience. Can someone own the design of an entire feature versus component parts? How effectively do they interact with cross-functional partners?

This perspective suggests that after a few years at a company, employees develop better understanding of the product and relationships, enabling them to operate at a more senior level. The problem arises when this company-specific scope mastery gets confused with industry-wide seniority.

The distinction becomes critically important when these “senior” professionals try to move between organizations. Their title suggests certain capabilities, but their actual experience may not translate across different environments, technologies, or business models.

The AI Factor: Flattening Organizations From Both Ends

The title inflation problem is about to get more complicated thanks to AI. As CNBC reports ↗, AI is not just ending entry-level jobs, it’s potentially ending the career ladder as we know it.

Postings for entry-level jobs in the U.S. have declined about 35% since January 2023, with AI playing a significant role. If AI systems eventually outperform humans at most tasks, as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicts, the very concept of entry-level positions may need redefinition.

This creates a bizarre situation where we have both title inflation (making roles sound more senior than they are) and organizational flattening (removing traditional entry points). The result could be a workforce where everyone’s a “senior” something, but few actually possess the experience that title historically implied.

The Compensation Conundrum

Title inflation creates practical problems for compensation benchmarking. When comparing sysadmin seniority and salary ↗, inconsistent title definitions make meaningful comparisons nearly impossible.

A “Senior Systems Administrator” at one company might handle enterprise-scale infrastructure with global impact, while at another company, the same title might describe someone who’s simply been there three years and can restart servers without supervision.

This inconsistency hurts everyone: experienced professionals get undervalued, companies struggle to benchmark compensation accurately, and recruiters waste time sorting through mismatched expectations.

Reclaiming Meaning From Title Inflation

The solution isn’t eliminating senior titles, it’s reclaiming their meaning. Companies need clear, objective criteria for what constitutes seniority beyond “time served.” This should include:

• Demonstrated leadership and mentorship capabilities
• Breadth of experience across multiple environments or technologies
• Strategic impact on business outcomes
• Ability to handle increasing scope and complexity

Professionals, meanwhile, should focus on developing actual senior capabilities rather than chasing titles. The most valuable senior professionals aren’t those who’ve simply been around, they’re those who can navigate complex technical and organizational challenges, mentor junior team members, and drive meaningful business impact.

The tech industry’s title inflation problem ultimately devalues everyone. When “senior” becomes the new mid-level, we lose the language to distinguish actual expertise from simple tenure. In an era where AI is reshaping career paths from the bottom up, we need more clarity about what seniority actually means, not less.

The companies that will thrive are those that recognize titles should reflect capability, not just calendar time. And the professionals who will succeed are those who focus on developing real senior skills, regardless of what their business card says.