Second Brain

The Advantage of Being Under-Leveled

The Story

Boris joined Meta as an IC4 (mid-level engineer) despite having significant prior experience from startups and a hedge fund. By conventional career logic, he should have negotiated for a higher level. Instead, he says he was lucky to be under-leveled.

“Lower expectations. It gave me the space to explore and build cool stuff for the sake of building cool stuff.”

Being under-leveled created a halo effect. Instead of meeting the bar at a senior level, he was crushing expectations at a mid-level. People thought “this guy is amazing” rather than “he’s doing what’s expected.” At the end of that first half, Boris got promoted. The half after that, every single engineer on his team got promoted too.

Boris actively recommends against pushing for level+1 when switching jobs. The pressure to perform at a higher level immediately takes away the freedom to explore, experiment, and build relationships.

Lesson for Creators

Being underestimated gives you room to experiment without pressure. Exceed low expectations rather than struggle to meet high ones. When entering a new space, a new platform, or a new niche, it’s better to over-deliver from a position of low expectations than to barely meet high ones. The freedom to explore is worth more than the title.

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