>It kind of paints this clear career trajectory path for engineers when I think the real world is infinitely more chaotic and random. Whenever I read an articl

>It kind of paints this clear career trajectory path for engineers when I think the real world is infinitely more chaotic and random. Whenever I read an article like this I wonder if such a workplace exists, or does the author hope it exists and is writing for this ideal environment where tasks can be put into a 4-box of high/low impact/visibility. I realize the author somewhat addresses this with "Many companies conflate high-visibility and high-impact," but it feels more like the vast majority of companies where most people will work conflate the two. As you said, the real world is a mess and a lot of people (me included) make the decision to optimize to what keeps them employed. This is especially true because (IME) at a lot of companies impact and visibility are things that can suddenly change. One day the task you're working on is going to save the world, and the next nobody cares anymore.