At Netflix I can't think of a single manager at any level managing engineers that didn't start as one, all the way up to the CEO. In some cases they couldn't n

At Netflix I can't think of a single manager at any level managing engineers that didn't start as one, all the way up to the CEO. In some cases they couldn't necessarily do their employee's job, but they at least understand the technical aspects well enough to make useful contributions to technical discussions.