That's just BS. Nothing about being a developer today has anything resembling leadership role. If that were true, developers would be coached, that never happen

That's just BS. Nothing about being a developer today has anything resembling leadership role. If that were true, developers would be coached, that never happens. They would decide what to build themselves, they do not. Others decide what, when and how to build everything, using backlog, scrum and sprints. You would have a say over how things should progress, odds are if you're too focused in coding, your head is in a totally different place. There are options though. If you're happy just being a coder, you'll probably have to accept all of the above and a not high paycheck to boot. You get job satisfaction, and maybe the right place won't have an axe hanging over your head. Getting into other roles, will require you to focus elsewhere. If your job is coding, you need to stop coding for a while. Find out how you can get others to do your work, coach them, while also working to elevate the tech stack, take risks that pays off, test new stuff. This requires to go beyond regular paycheck, study stuff all the time etc. You might become Tech Lead, but only if you become useful to others across the board. Not about you anymore, but best not to stop coding to keep fresh. Architect? That could be a next step, chill. I'm sorry to say that there are not so many realistic career paths on the dev track, but switching to IT, brings lots of opportunity - both as generalist or as specialist with higher pay. You will learn to stand on your own feet in BS. It'll be hard to impossible to keep current coding wise. Though, there are much more opportunity to rise to be a natural leader than to be an introvert dev staring into monitor all day. Too bad this is all there is in current systemic conditions. Probably no leader is vested in you, interested or knowledgeable / connected enough to mentor you to put you on the right track. Lots is either natural knack and/or pure dumb luck. What always helps is knowing the right people and working hard to expand skills and value to others. Same as with being born by the right parents, being taught by a true teacher or working for a wise natural leader.