Those "most developers" make it to Senior, and then stay there until they leave the company. I was at MS for 6 years, and can confirm much of what the GP said.

Those "most developers" make it to Senior, and then stay there until they leave the company. I was at MS for 6 years, and can confirm much of what the GP said. Some people succeeded on merit, of course! But mostly any real success was extremely proportional to your skill at Machiavellian intrigue, and willingness to engage in it continually. That was surely the main game. Every org change or VP change was surrounded by a lot of Game of Thrones.