Looking at levels.fyi and trying to guess my chances/competition of getting promoted to higher levels. What % of people are in E6 vs E5 for example.
E6 is where it gets harder, E5 is a terminal level for many
There isnt competition per se - unlike managers that need an opening with larger scope to get promoted, there is no hard limits per level. As an ic, you are benchmarked against people of the your and the next levels. If based on that comparison you are predicted to be successful at the next level consistently - you get promoted.
Some people complain that it also depends on the quality if your manager and the amount of impact available in your team, which is true to some extent, the strong E6/E7s are good at identifying the high impact opportunities and they are clearly distinguished from the E5s on the team.
This guy is wise
there is internal wiki with this exact info of % break down but i am not 100% sure if it is confidential. i don’t see why it would be but then i could be wrong. there are a lot fewer e6 compare to e5 and very difficult to get to. hopefully this answers your question somewhat
It is confidential, but I agree with your sentiments. Also, OP shouldn’t look to percentages to gauge E5->E6 chances, as making it to that level involves some factors that could be out of one’s control (great manager, impactful project, etc)