A lot is self-imposed: engineers tend to believe in the idea of a meritocracy and the 20% overachievers. It's the lone hacker ethic. The downside is that if you

A lot is self-imposed: engineers tend to believe in the idea of a meritocracy and the 20% overachievers. It's the lone hacker ethic. The downside is that if you stick to that, 80% of us get the shaft. Lots of comparisons to attorneys, on significant difference is that attorneys have a way to advance their career while remaining an attorney. I've got nearly 20 years in this biz and constantly get told that if I want to increase my salary, I need to move into management. I notice a lot of the discussion is around how to get "promoted". Attorneys get promoted to partner, at which point they have equity in the company, and that's not "here's some stock options", you actually have your cash invested in the partnership.