>the extra effort and hours that you put into your job as a software developer does not usually amount to someone higher up thinking you should run the company. It has been my experience that good producers are more likely to be asked to continue to produce.
In principle this is not even a bad thing. A great software engineer might not be that great as a manager or CEO.
It would be better to have a technical career track where you advance in pay, in status items (car, single office) or other perks (conference visits payed by the company). And of course a truely great company would send you on extra holiday for all-nighters and weekend-rush jobs.
It's also not necessary to move someone to management to give them more authority. Most software engineers don't want to deal with hiring/firing people or any of the other stuff that comes with being a manager, but they would be interested in having more say in technical decisions.
Doesn't mean the software engineer would be bad at either. In my experience software engineers with leadership skills(meaning someone I would respect, and would work under), still get passed up.
In principle this is not even a bad thing. A great software engineer might not be that great as a manager or CEO.
It would be better to have a technical career track where you advance in pay, in status items (car, single office) or other perks (conference visits payed by the company). And of course a truely great company would send you on extra holiday for all-nighters and weekend-rush jobs.