Well, there's another pattern that leads experienced developers into management. After a while, they realize that no matter how good they get, they can only write so much code each day. They can only increase their effectiveness by applying their experience to improving code that other people write.
One route to that is by getting out of mainline production coding and going meta: designing new systems, programming languages, tools etc. Good work if you can get it, but prone to failure. Another route is to become a manager. There's plenty of demand for managers with technical ability, a clear route for advancement and much lower risk of failure.
One route to that is by getting out of mainline production coding and going meta: designing new systems, programming languages, tools etc. Good work if you can get it, but prone to failure. Another route is to become a manager. There's plenty of demand for managers with technical ability, a clear route for advancement and much lower risk of failure.