Many companies do but the IC track gets hard just as the management track starts. At my company, a Director and a Principal eng are same level, but Principal e

Many companies do but the IC track gets hard just as the management track starts. At my company, a Director and a Principal eng are same level, but Principal eng are people with industry renown. There are twice as many Directors than PENG, but you can keep climbing to SR Director, VP, SVP.