Pardon me while I blow the dust off the standard quip about "years of experience:"

"Is that one year of experience, repeated five times?"

In my job, I was able to get a position just as "Software Developer." I didn't like devaluing "Software Engineer" and I didn't want to be seen as a WordPress guy if I used "Web Developer." (My job is web development with Laravel.) And lastly, I didn't want to be called "Junior" (because I have less than 5 years experience).

id rather have someone with one year repeated 5 times than someone with just one year. Those aren't equivalent

I think I started going to interview customers with my boss very early on my first job in the 90s. I've been given a team to manage after two years and I started doing interviews, analysis, requirements, etc on my own. Basically I was a senior engineer by then. The company was always very supportive so if I had to ask for advice I had somebody to ask to. After all 1/n-th of my boss' career depended by the outcome of my job.

Of course I'm much better at that kind of job now. I wonder how I could really understand my customers but obviously it was good enough.

My very first job even before I graduated was 'Senior' (not a brag, an indication that the title doesn't mean much.) Mid-level individual contributors at Goldman Sachs are 'Vice President'. These titles can't be read literally, can't be quantified, and can't be compared between companies. Any attempt to do so is futile.

I think what is important is once to have seen couple of times the happy path (successful project) and at least the unhappy path (unsuccessful project) and see how a senior can mitigate the repercussion of the unsuccessful project. Basically see the stuff which no book tells you.