u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
+1 official title doesn't mean anything. at large companies your level might mean something as people know how to pattern match to levels at their company.
+1 use software engineer over "developer" on a resume even if it's not your on paper job title as long as it's reasonable to do so and the job duties are analogous to other software engineer jobs. A resume is a tool to communicate your background in seconds to a recruiter or hiring manager. If you misrepresent yourself though it will catch up with you and optimizing your resume is understandably a challenge. It's important though and often needs help from experienced advisors. Codesmith has a head of careers with a "silver tongue" who really works those resumes to tell whatever story you want without explicitly lying.
On a background check or a formal curriculum vitae you need to list everything as it is on paper because these tools are intended to be a historical documentation of your background.