[ugh123]

Some organizations have tried to limit manager-bloat by offering an alternative track for ICs (senior-> staff -> principle -> whatever). But the expectations at those levels have been hard to define and individual output seems to plateau or even degrade back to 'senior' level or even less when these high ranking ICs are asked to join a plethora of meetings on behalf of the team.

[diebeforei485]

It's also common at some of these companies to get "demoted" from a higher track. That basically never happens to managers.

[Gunnerhead]

Sorry, do you mean it’s common for someone to go from, say, L6, to L5?

[diebeforei485]

Yes.

[lennixm]

I've never heard of that happening.