Recruiter Downgraded the Level Before the HM Screen Even Started

I saw this on an online job board. The job post was actually for a Distinguished Engineer, and I thought it would be a chance to get a taste of a super high-level IC role, a career jump of sorts, and I was fine taking a pay cut for that, so I applied. The recruiter then told me that their Distinguished level is calibrated against Google/Meta L8 ICs, which is two levels above my current scope, so…

Shared by a candidate · reported Mar 2026. Interview formats change; use it as a guide, not a script.