Plenty of scumbags take the founder route too. :) And I've met many engineers in my career who would fit the jerk description as well. Having operated in all t

Plenty of scumbags take the founder route too. :) And I've met many engineers in my career who would fit the jerk description as well. Having operated in all three roles, all are incredibly valuable. Great leaders enable their teams to be more than the sum of their individual members (employees). But I would opine that the leadership roles come with significantly more risk, which is at least partially responsible for the money / prestige.