what are different level in software engineering career?

[raminaa niilian]

I am looking for soma information about different levels of software engineering career. for example the following items am aware of from the lowest to highest

associated engineer
software engineer
senior software engineer
principal software engineer

Do I sorted them correctly or I am missing some of them.

My other question is about differences between a Java developer and a software engineer? Also the difference between a senior java developer and a senior software engineer.

If you have some comments or your company has some ordering, would you please share the ordering?

Thanks.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Different companies have different naming conventions. The ordering you have is valid for those names. Most of the time, a company has more titles so they can promote you more times.

When the same company uses all three, software engineer is higher than developer and developer is higher than programmer. The titles are supposed to show higher order skills. However there is a lot of title inflation and a "senior developer" could only have three years experience. Which means you need a new title for the real senior people.