the problem often is, the only career ladder in most companies involves management. Some people just don't want that track, and despite whatever hand waving and

the problem often is, the only career ladder in most companies involves management. Some people just don't want that track, and despite whatever hand waving and speech making, there really is no non management career paths. You can hand out arbitrary titles that sound more important, and you can give salary bumps, but most companies are not set up to care about the opinions of technical people from a leadership point of view. So if you are a person who is a technical person, not interested in management, you are likely not interested in the 'talk', as it always is just talk. So your choices are learn to enjoy where you are, or have an endless chase to find a company that listens to technical people at a strategic level.