[waltertamboer]

I can so much relate to the first paragraph. When you just start your career, you enter a junior role. It's than expected of you to grow to a medior role, a senior role and than somewhere along the line become a lead.

Well, that's the biggest BS there is. Not everybody is a good lead. It's a completely different job compared to engineering. It takes people skill, organizational skill and it requires you to approach engineering from a much higher abstract level.

Personally I was really unhappy being a lead and I decided to step down. I was doing more harm than good and no-one benefits from that. Not the company, not the team, and definitely not me.

FWIW, if you still have to work 50 more years before you can enjoy a retirement, you better learn what makes you happy and do what makes you happy.

[1MoreThing]

Most places I've been at don't expect you to ever become a lead. Senior is often a terminal role if you don't want to keep climbing. But there is an expectation that you'll continue to grow to at least a senior level.