Comment by murderberry

Yes and no. It's a common trope at many tech companies that these are two completely separate tracks, with no special upside to either.

But then, here's the reality: any large company will have a new for an army of directors and VPs, compared to only a handful of ultra-senior, visionary engineers. Take Google and compare the ratio of Jeff Dean-type folks to senior managerial staff collecting similar paychecks.

So yeah, if your goal is to retire early without depending too much on luck or on being exceptional, management is your career growth path. For better or worse.