Thread by @GergelyOrosz

It never ceases to amaze me how people with incredible early career trajectories at big tech have unrealistic expectations on keeping advancing (and the absurdity of this).

Here’s a quote from an engineer at Facebook who is frustrated for not being promoted for years:

“I went from E3 (new grad) to E6 (staff) in 7 years. Now stuck at E6 for 2 years. I want to stay an IC but what am I doing wrong?”

“Buddy. You’re in the top 2-3% of FB engineers already. Most IC engineers *retire* at the equivalent of E7 in the industry (eg at Amazon).”

For perspective the majority (>50%) of engineers at Facebook will never reach E6.

If your goal is to climb the big tech corp ladder above, you best get ready to change how you work and get into management-like work.

Or stay cozy, or move out of big tech (join / fund a startup)

The world’s smallest little violin playing their heart out for engineers with under 10 YOE, >$500K/yr who feel stuck because the next level (at $700K-1M) feels out of reach in 1-2 years, but going to a startup means a >50% paycut (+non-liquid equity).

It’s meant to be like this.

Big tech is one of the only places with an IC ladder parallel w management (at most companies, managers *always* get paid more vs ICs).

As soon as you hit the equivalent of eng manager as an IC (L6/E6), advancing without managerial skills/ activities becomes close to impossible.

Tenure (spending years at the company), outsized impact (increasingly difficult at big tech) and a strong, supportive network are all unwritten requirements to get promoted to L6/E6+ roles.

There are, of course other paths: take a (major) risk. Join a growing startup. Found one.

Look at the majority of Google L8 (principal) and L9 (distinguished). Most joined Google 10-15 years ago, when it was still small. They built/invented critical parts of Google today.

That’s how you get to the highest big tech levels. Join early enough & have a massive impact.