I have a BS in CS and between 4.5-5 years of experience in mostly backend and some full-stack development. I consider myself a solid intermediate level engineer. Likely not too junior, but definitely not senior. I generally apply to SWE II positions, but then recruiters/hiring managers say I would be a better fit for SWE III roles. When I apply to mid-level positions, recruiters/hiring managers decide I'm a better fit for senior roles.
Honestly, I'm not that good. I'm a super mediocre coder. I try to be really transparent with my work experience and skill set and I acknowledge that I have weaknesses that need fixing and plenty of learning still left ahead. I never go into an interview and tell people I'm amazing. My attitude is more like "Eh, yeah I'm pretty decent I guess. I want to be awesome one day though, so looking forward to the learning experience at your company, it's a great opportunity, thanks for your time." I'm just afraid that potential employers think I'm capable of doing things that in reality I cannot do, and I don't want to go into the job and eventually get fired if I fail to meet the expectations that I was hired based on. I don't know if I can go against these employers and say, "No, I want to be a SWE 2 not a 3. No, I'm a mid-level SWE, not a senior. Interview me with that in mind and stop having such high expectations of me." I can't tell if I'm potentially lacking confidence, or if I'm misrepresenting my work experience to seem more impactful than it really was.
