I'd say my vision of an ideal technical career parallels an ideal academic career: the Juniors learn, grads do grunt work (but sometimes that's the most interes

I'd say my vision of an ideal technical career parallels an ideal academic career: the Juniors learn, grads do grunt work (but sometimes that's the most interesting stuff), post-docs do their own projects and lead small teams, and finally, professors get to pass on their knowledge all while contributing their valuable expertise to many different projects of their grads and post-docs. In this scenario, the difference between a post-doc and a professor is the difference between a senior SWE and a senior staff SWE. The sad reality of both tracks, however, is that admin work eats your creative time more and more as you progress along your career path.