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Well 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 sid
by tomtheelder 4y ago
Well 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.