Industry flattening risks engineering management

The "manager track" is no longer the default path to seniority, as AI tools increase the premium on elite individual contributors.

• –Industry-wide "flattening" has removed layers of middle management, making the ladder steeper and less stable.
• –Staff Engineer salaries frequently exceed entry-level EM pay, often with significantly less "people debt" and burnout.
• –Moving to management in the "AI era" risks technical obsolescence at a time when hands-on proficiency is evolving rapidly.
• –Organizational context is becoming an automated commodity, reducing the traditional EM's role as a knowledge router.