> One simple example - two jobs may have the same title (Senior Developer, or whatever) but have totally different expectations of communication skills, leadership skills, ability to handle pressure, etc and would pay very differently. So you (and everyone else) would be tempted to apply for the top-paying job but potentially not be qualified.
That's because software engineering suffers from tittle inflation (same way grade inflation works really).
Internally there are several "levels" of Senior Engineers at most companies. But what the levels map to is completely arbitrary. I've seen places where senior really means 20 years of industry experience and others where it's more like 5.
You sort of point this out, but title inflation in itself isn't a problem. If everyone could agree that "senior staff developer" in 2021 is what everyone meant by "senior developer" in 2005, we'd be fine.
The real problem, as you point out, is there is no consistency. In reviewing resumes basically ignore titles from any company I'm not very familiar with, and rely on their description of what they have done.
As an aside, many engineers, especially less experienced ones, are terrible at this. As a piece of advice, think about what your resume says about your work if the titles are blacked out.
That's because software engineering suffers from tittle inflation (same way grade inflation works really).
Internally there are several "levels" of Senior Engineers at most companies. But what the levels map to is completely arbitrary. I've seen places where senior really means 20 years of industry experience and others where it's more like 5.