In "MBA" run orgs that don't value good engineers and have poor career paths for engineer individual contributors, you see this a lot. But not in a good way. N

In "MBA" run orgs that don't value good engineers and have poor career paths for engineer individual contributors, you see this a lot. But not in a good way. Not everyone is conscious of managing their career, but the engineers that are figure out that they either need to find a better company or become a manager to be promoted. If they are just going into management to get a promotion, sometimes they end up doing a good job, but often hate it and do a terrible job. They certainly aren't in it for the long haul. As soon as they meet the minimum commitment (1-2 years), jump back to engineering as individual contributors. That pattern is not one that makes for better managers or better engineers. It's toxic. And the engineers who are willing to "game" the system like that are sometimes a bit political vs. focused on getting work done anyway. But then, in places like that, everything is toxic. Point is, if you find yourself in a place like that and you just want a promotion - don't do it. Instead, go somewhere else that has a career path that can support you in what you want to do and are good at.