[gumby]

This is why IBM created a separate path back in the 1950s so good technical people didn't have to become managers in order to be promoted.

There are many ways to provide leadership, and not every manager leads much.

[maxxxxx]

My company has a technical track in theory but over the last 2 years I have observed that mediocre managers keep getting promoted regularly whereas only absolutely outstanding engineers move up. If you want to make decent money, management is the way to go. At least in my company.

[analog31]

The Fortune 500 company that I work for has parallel tracks. I actually moved from the management track to the technical track, and was promoted in the process.

I was probably an OK manager, but didn't feel that I would move up any further without doing some things that I didn't want to do, such as relocate.

Our managers don't actually spend a lot of their time managing people. Rather, they work on administrative and information processing tasks, and step in as small project managers.

[tjl]

I recall that Nortel had parallel tracks as well. One of the guys I worked with did the technical track.