[lbrandy]

"terminal level", in the sense being used by the OP, doesn't mean "end of the IC track". It means a level that you can be at "forever". Often times the junior engineering levels have some expectations around eventually being promoted (ie, "up or out").

[wan23]

IIRC, at Google the levels below Senior Engineer require progress toward a higher level as a job requirement. So that even if you're performing well at that level, if you aren't showing progress it gets counted against you in perf increasingly until eventually you are at risk of being pushed out.

[phamilton]

Correct, this is what I meant.