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The same applies to being a manager though. You're not going to get promoted forever in any role, at some point you'll hit a terminal level, whether that's in a
by eklitzke 4y ago
The same applies to being a manager though. You're not going to get promoted forever in any role, at some point you'll hit a terminal level, whether that's in an IC track or a management track. And it's not a problem as long as you find your work fulfilling.
- ramesh31 4y ago>The same applies to being a manager though. It depends. If you're able to side-step the middle manager doldrums to Director/VP, and you know how to play the game, the sky's the limit. But IC's are pretty hard capped at L6 short of being involved in the creation of a new business.
- tomtheelder 4y agoWell I guess the difference is that the top of the technical leadership track is ostensibly CTO, which is a “higher” role than you’d typically see on the IC side. That said I totally agree with you overall and think the argument you are responding to is a little silly. You can have an absolutely fantastic career staying IC forever. The fact that you might cap out at “staff/principal/whatever engineer,” a hugely influential and generally very well paid role, should not be viewed as a downside to that track.
- ratorx 4y agoWell, in terms of the org chart, you’ll always be higher at an equivalent point in the management track compared to the IC track (starting from team lead, who will report to the team manager), but that’s not necessarily mean there’s not that as room for growth. Even the CTO can have incredibly senior engineers reporting to them as a consultant of sorts. Sure, the probability of arriving at that role is low, but then so is the probability of becoming CTO.
- tannhaeuser 4y agoaka the Peter principle