It seems a lot of people in the comments take issue with the career ladder at big tech. That's probably fair, but you didn't create the ladder @Kun!

If you read the article instead as a course in how to develop strategic thinking and leadership as an engineer, I think it's really valuable! I have no desire to work for big tech, but the lessons you describe at each stage correspond to my journey leading teams at a high-growth startup.

Just dropping a note to say I enjoyed it. So much so that I (briefly) quoted you in a recent article: https://medium.com/developer-purpose/coding-is-simple-engineering-is-hard-8d58453a315e