My opinion on career ladders and titles has zigzagged back and forth over the years. Today I'm in the camp that titles are, to put it succinctly, somewhat useful.

Sure, you could be idealist and say that everyone should be judged on their own merits rather than a scale. Some companies don't have ladders. Out of big tech Netflix probably lasted the longest. And then they caved in [1]. Understanding why they finally decided to do it might highlight the practical considerations of why companies have ladders.

Also from what I am able to gather OP is a white dude. That's fine, but we shouldn't underestimate how a job title helps people from underrepresented groups. For a sampling read some of the interviews at StaffEng [2].

[1] https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/netflix-levels/ [2] https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/netflix-levels/