First, note you're likely to get some survivorship bias in these responses - older people who left the industry are less likely to comment on HN. That said, as a developer in their mid-40s, here's my take: 1. In general, mid-level engineering management jobs (which I consider Manager to Senior Director level) pay significantly more because they are shittier jobs . Sure, there is the rare soul that loves these kind of…
In my head, "director" is right near the top of the organisation, just under "shareholder", and above C-suite. So I'm intrigued by the "ton of managing up". Who are you managing up so much to?
In a big old school company, a director is a manager of managers or lesser directors. You are usually a accountable for a chunk of the business.
Sometimes you’re a power player, other times you’re the meat in a shit sandwich with the big shots above, and the worker bees below.