I've worked with people that do this and nothing will put you on my never-work-with-again list faster. Hamstringing entire teams because you're doing something only for yourself is toxic.
I wouldn't say this is the 'best' path, but certainly one that is rewarded a bit too often. Ultimately this leads to some really poor org structures and power imbalances, at which point I hope all the good people have left.
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Best path to promotion as a high-level engineer is intentionally creating institutional-level problems that only you can fix at scale.
I've worked with people that do this and nothing will put you on my never-work-with-again list faster. Hamstringing entire teams because you're doing something only for yourself is toxic.
I wouldn't say this is the 'best' path, but certainly one that is rewarded a bit too often. Ultimately this leads to some really poor org structures and power imbalances, at which point I hope all the good people have left.
You just described cloud in a nutshell.