[shadowgovt]

It's a little more than that. At the level this engineer was at, they are expected to seek and attain promotion. Sitting at a level below staff becomes a negative and can lead to you being put on a PIP because you aren't meeting the declared expectations when you aren't being promoted.

Google eventually removed that language because they learned that in a 100,000-person company, there's simply not enough room in the pyramid and they'll lose the people who are doing the keeping-the-lights-on work who don't self-promote. They didn't know that yet in 2018 if memory serves.

[rockemsockem]

It was senior (L5) that you were expected to reach, not staff. It was revised down to L4. For reference almost all SWE hires start at L3.

[skirmish]

> For reference almost all SWE hires start at L3.

Straight out of school, yes. With a few years of outside experience and an advanced degree, it is easy to join at L5. Which I think is ideal, no promotion headaches, just focus on interesting work (L6 already starts to be management heavy, so not that attractive).

[klipt]

Yes switching jobs is often a path to "sideways promotion". You have to interview well, but that's something that's learnable - and more under your control in a way, than getting good promotable projects at your current employer.

[rockemsockem]

Yes, good point I should have clarified that.