Scope, not effort: how engineer promotions actually get decided

Most engineers who stall at a level have the skill. What they don't have is anyone willing to explain the machine they're inside. The explanation you get from your manager is partial by design. They know their part of the process and not the committee's, so what comes back is "keep doing what you're doing, you're close." Which is true, and useless, and then you're close again next cycle. So here is the machine, reconstructed from what the four big companies publish, what their engineers write up afterward, and what levelling aggregators have pieced together. None of it is your company's internal doc. Check the specifics with your own manager. The ladders don't line up Stage Google Meta Amazon Microsoft Apple Typical YOE Entry L3 E3 L4 (SDE I) 59–60 ICT2 0–2 Mid L4 E4 L5 (SDE II) 61–62 ICT3 2–5 Senior L5 E5 L6 (SDE III) 63–64 ICT4 5–8+ Staff L6 E6 L7 (Principal) 65–66 ICT5 8–12+ Senior staff L7 E7 L8 67 ICT6 12+ Principal / Distinguished L8–L9 E8–E9 L10 68–69 Distinguished rare Google's L5 is a senior engineer. Amazon's L5 is a mid-level SDE II. Recruiters map between them and the map is approximate, so the year ranges are typical rather than required. Two things here matter more than the numbers. The gap between adjacent levels is not constant. Entry to mid is mostly about becoming reliable. Mid to senior is about becoming independent. Then senior to staff, which is where the ladder stops behaving like a ladder: it's a change of job, and the things that earned you the last promotion only partly transfer. And every company has a level it considers a perfectly good place to spend a career. Google's L5, Meta's E5, Amazon's SDE II or III depending on who you ask, Microsoft's 63 or 64. Below that level there is an expectation you keep climbing, and at some companies a clock. Above it, promotion is optional and much harder, and nobody will chase you about it. What actually happens in the room The four processes differ enough that optimizing for the wrong one wastes a year