The Rise of Technical Specialists and the Motivation to Not Become Managers

More individual contributors are being rewarded with higher pay, especially in the technical specialist route. The Peter Principle suggests that people rise to their level of incompetence, but it can also be seen as reaching their ceiling of competence. Splitting seniority levels allows for rewarding technical expertise instead of just promoting to management. However, technical specialists may still be excluded from important conversations and lack the same level of respect.