Career and compensation growth is a function of scaling your output.
The more senior you get and the higher your compensation gets, the greater the expectation is that you accelerate the work of others around you.
Historically, this has been easiest to do through management. If I make a team of 10 each 10% more effective, then I've effectively doubled my (individual) output.
Software engineering is different than most traditional roles. It offers other ways to accelerate the velocity of others; ways that don't require being a manager.
This is why compensation can be decoupled from management in these roles and why parallel tracks can truly exist in this role.
But the tracks remain parallel only as long as you're continually scaling your output. This takes effort and discipline. It happens more automatically through management promotion (though not for managers that never get promoted to lead larger teams).
This 100%. Having been both engineer and manager, I have to say it is much harder for engineers get promoted beyond the senior level, so pay is going to be higher over time for managers.
The more senior you get and the higher your compensation gets, the greater the expectation is that you accelerate the work of others around you.
Historically, this has been easiest to do through management. If I make a team of 10 each 10% more effective, then I've effectively doubled my (individual) output.
Software engineering is different than most traditional roles. It offers other ways to accelerate the velocity of others; ways that don't require being a manager.
This is why compensation can be decoupled from management in these roles and why parallel tracks can truly exist in this role.
But the tracks remain parallel only as long as you're continually scaling your output. This takes effort and discipline. It happens more automatically through management promotion (though not for managers that never get promoted to lead larger teams).