Student Question: Master Chi, what’s your take on being in your 30s at an internet tech company, still at the individual contributor level without breaking into management, and finding it difficult to reach the principal/staff engineer tier? Should I keep pushing on the technical track, or move to a smaller company to take on a management role?
Master Chi’s Response:
Most people are in exactly this position — no need to spiral into anxiety.
If you can get into a major tech company, get in and stay. The tenure alone is worth something.
Given the current environment: if your technical skills aren’t genuinely strong, and your management abilities aren’t clearly developed either, I’d caution against jumping to a smaller company. Once things go sideways, finding a good position again gets very hard — it becomes a slide downward, not a step up.