[Aeolun]

I thought this was my dream as well, until I found out it basically brings you all the responsibilities of management, without any of the rewards.

[sethammons]

Which rewards? If it is salary, at least for us (I work with the author of the referenced article), we strive to keep those levels the same on the technical and managerial track.

[wellreally]

How many engineers vs managers are there in your company at that level and at the levels above it?

It's rare to see a big tech company with as many engineers as managers at the Director compensation level, for example.