[ed312]

When I'm managing junior folks, I generally advise them there are three main paths: 1. Keep focusing on IC/software work. You keep growing and having larger impact, capping off with an architect type role. 2. Lean into project management, full stack, and business a bit. Become a tech lead for increasing large/important projects. This is a great general path that still lets you be pretty close to the code. 3. Focus on business & people. Gain experience mentoring teammates, then interns, then become a people manager. At some point you're going to be trading cutting edge coding skills for mid level management skills. You can branch off to focusing on CTO or engineering leadership from here.

There are definitely a lot of other paths, but that above three are the most "well worn" and achievable in my experience.

[christiansakai]

What’s the difference between no. 1 and 2? It seems the same to me