It's not exactly luxurious. Depends on what you want. I, for example, want very much to to be an individual contributor who also does architecture and systems

It's not exactly luxurious. Depends on what you want. I, for example, want very much to to be an individual contributor who also does architecture and systems work on smaller projects. The more obscure and the greater the risk from defects, the better. Oh, and it has to make money as well. If you want to climb the greasy pole and be a prime player on a high profile system then it's harder.