Leveling up: offers, titles and career moves
This course follows Juliana, a pleno developer in Curitiba, as she weighs a remote offer from a US startup. It explains how companies define levels and why titles do not carry over between them. It shows how to read a leveling framework row by row and turn evidence into a written promotion case. It covers equity basics, including options, RSUs, vesting and the cliff. It then compares promotion with switching companies, handles counteroffers and competing offers, and explains PJ contracts and taxes for working from Brazil for a company abroad.
What you'll learn
- ✓How scope, autonomy, impact, technical depth and influence define levels
- ✓How to read a leveling framework and build a written promotion case
- ✓How stock options, RSUs, strike price, vesting and the cliff work
- ✓When switching companies or staying for a promotion makes more sense
- ✓How to evaluate counteroffers and handle competing offers without bluffing
- ✓How PJ contracts, service export taxes and paperwork work for remote roles abroad
How companies define levels
Juliana had been "desenvolvedora pleno" at a Curitiba SaaS company for three years when the email landed. A US remote startup wanted to bring her on as "Software Engineer II." Same person, same stack, three years of the same kind of Rails work. Two different words for what she does. That's not a…
Read the full lesson free →Curriculum
7 lessonsHow companies define levels
How titles differ between companies, the five axes behind leveling, what promotion committees weigh, and down-leveling on hire.
Reading a leveling framework
Reading a leveling framework row by row, gathering evidence, naming gaps, and writing a promotion case months before a cycle.
Equity basics for developers
Stock options versus RSUs, strike price, vesting and cliff, exercise costs, questions to ask, and Brazilian tax treatment.
Promotion versus switching companies
When switching companies beats waiting for promotion, when staying wins, and how to weigh the decision on one written sheet.
Counteroffers and competing offers
Reading a counteroffer by growth, manager and scope, declining it well, handling competing offers honestly, and deciding once.
Remote abroad: PJ contracts and taxes
Invoicing a foreign client through a CNPJ, service export tax exemptions, required paperwork, currency conversion, contract clauses and EOR.
Your next move: putting it all together
Juliana's full decision, step by step, using each earlier method, ending with a checklist and two negotiated conditions.