How to deal with applying for a position that is “lower” than your own

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

About 18 months ago I was hired at a fairly small firm as a junior developer. Because the firm was small often developers have to wear a lot of hats. So I had to do development on the front end, server and database. The company at the time had two lead developers.

Eventually the firm went belly up (about 9 months in) and we transitioned to new management but the same staff (with the former owner becoming our development manager). On top of that when we transitioned, the two lead developers we had quit. So we officially had no lead developers.

Because I was the only person left with any understanding the product, I was made an ad-hoc lead developer. So, I became responsible for integration, module design and a bunch of new technical tasks. I also was a project manager and often had to assess people with MORE experience than me. (I was in charge of juniors who had been at the company longer, but who were new to the product.)

So, I'm at a point in my career where I'm comfortable but I am curious about if I had to change jobs, how would explain this? My actual competency with code is that of a junior, but because I've been put into a position out of necessity, I am considered a Lead. (It went from ad-hoc lead to permanent full time lead).

My concern is: If I were to apply to a new position, and I put my current firm as a reference. When they call my development manager will say my position was a lead developer. Then the company I'm applying to will wonder why is a lead applying for a junior position?

How do I manage / explain the discrepancy?

manpreet 2 years ago

You do what you always do when applying for a job. You tell a story. You start by having your resume tell it, and then you continue it in the interview.

The story you have to tell is great. You were thrust into a situation that was well above your pay grade, and rose to the occasion. All you need to do is tweak your resume so that anyone reading it reads that story. Your resume already ought to have a "notable achievements" section for each position you held (if not, get someone to teach you how to write a resume). You can tell the story pretty quickly in one of the bullet points there, at which point you won't get uncomfortable questions about what's going on, because they'll already know.