Were you kidnapped or otherwise taken to an interview against your will?

Otherwise, if you allow that situation to happen, well, you allowed it to happen.

At least in SV, many of the larger companies, startups and more established firms, interview candidates for multi-team group and then match candidates more specifically based on interview performance. Part of that process is leveling because many startups throw out senior titles like candy.

Last time I interviewed at Square, for example, after passing the interview for a particular group I met with several engineering managers within the group to understand my fit within their teams. That matching was a result of what teams the group thought I might be a good fit for based on the interview.

Nobody knows what anybody is worth, come on.

You know a high performer from a low one. Anything in between is anybody's guess.

Salaries are reflections of the negotiation market, which reflects merit, but only barely.

They're all like this. I know what the company does because I do my research, and I know what tooling they're using because that's 90% of the job description. I have no idea what problems the team currently faces.