What does a Principal Software Engineer do?
Having been at several companies, I think I was happiest about my career when I didn’t have a fancy title and did not really know anyone else’s either (aside from obvious managers).  It was nicer just knowing who’s in charge of what <i>thing</i>, and seeing your influence grow as you are trusted with more <i>things</i>.<p>When I see titles, it just makes unhelpful thoughts enter my head, like: are all these people “at my level” really contributing as much as me?  Sometimes I even thought the reverse, like: how can this seemingly-junior person still be stuck at that level, when he is clearly doing all this great stuff we depend on every day?  Of course the especially soul-crushing case is when you encounter people that <i>clearly suck</i> at what they do, and they’re 1-2 levels <i>above</i> you; and worse, I have occasionally seen those people promoted <i>further</i>!<p>It is also hard not to look at titles on places like LinkedIn.  I know I shouldn’t care, since titles mean different things at every company, and some especially-impressive-sounding titles can range from “meh” to “god-level” depending on where it is.  And yet, it gets in my head sometimes, making me wonder every few years if I am at the level I should be.<p>When the title “matters” at a company, it also makes me consider it a factor in annual reviews.  If I get a raise, bonus, etc. but see my damned <i>title</i> stagnate year over year, suddenly I <i>care</i> about this and take it as a complete lack of recognition by the company (that literally would not happen if they simply did not tell me what my title is!).