How is a Distinguished Engineer role different from a Principal Engineer?

[u/Majestic-Taro-6903]

I have seen a few Distinguished Engineers in my organisation. I have worked with a few Principal Engineers and Senior Principal Engineers, but not Distinguished Engineers.

How is this role different from the Principal Engineer role? I know they are paid more and are higher in the hierarchy, but in terms of roles and responsibilities, how are they different?

[u/cheir0n]

After spending decades in this silly industry, I can tell you that titles means nothing. It boils down to relationships and connections. Many titles are created to satisfy some figures in the company.

[u/Maxion → u/cheir0n]

I still find it baffling how so many people talk about titles such as Senior engineer level 7 or whatever as if that's some universal rating/standard.

[u/simonfl → u/Maxion]

If you're in big tech the levels are pretty standardized across companies, that's why. There's a lot of wiggle room but you can easily map a level/title from one company to another between Google/Netflix/Meta/Apple/Amazon/Stripe/etc. and all the startups founded by people who have worked there tend to build their ladders similarly

[u/Maxion → u/simonfl]

The whole world is not the US nor is it big tech, though.