20+ years experience. Landed a lot of major projects (some projects where landed single-handedly, some projects were non-trivial contributions to open-source projects, some where in a team where I was a tech lead). Mastery of C++, Java, JS, TS, etc. Been in multiple FAANGs. Yet, no company wants to hire me above Sr. SWE. No promo at Google too. Feeling stuck.
I bet a startup would give it to you
You wrote it yourself “Single handedly”.
Is it you, TechLead?
Think about working for a good but non-FAANG company, There’s often room for taking on more responsibility there and better comp.
Good PEs tend to lead an org of 50+ people in Amazon.
From my interview experience it is likely the complexity/longevity of cross team projects that moved business metrics the companies are looking for. Not how hard/difficult a single project(that you did alone) is. One way or another a stuff engineer is expected to influence/raise others around him.
Take a look around you, what are other promos doing that you aren’t. Introspection might help you.
Its all about scaling yourself. If you work alone, its like vertical scaling. If you can teach a bunch of people what you do, or create systems that make them deliver equal output to what you do, its horizontal scaling.
Think you meant “horizontal scaling” in your second point
Yup, thanks, edited
Eventually it comes down to leadership skills and politics. Being a talented coder only takes you so far.
Eventually it comes down to architecture and system design. A politically savvy senior engineer without the necessary artifacts will never get promoted to staff in a reputable tech company (i.e. FAANG). Of course, getting the architecture and system design implemented requires working through others which requires leadership.
Ever considered that you need both ends of the stick to get to that level?