Is the life path of a developer (particularly one interested in working for one of the large, monopolist tech firms) really so different? Isn't "staff" engineer

Is the life path of a developer (particularly one interested in working for one of the large, monopolist tech firms) really so different? Isn't "staff" engineer a common goal? As I say, my experience has been that hard skills matter quite little beyond a certain point and political/soft skills take over, and it's as true of private industry as anywhere else.