I think it's pretty common to talk about "management career path" and "tech lead / architect career path", and I think it's a mistake. I think there should be three paths: manager, TL/architect, and individual contributor.

I wish Google (I work there, opinions my own) had three ladder flavours for engineers, not two. If we did that, in Google terms (ref. http://levels.fyi), I think: - the IC ladder should go from L3-L6, maybe L7 - the TL/architect ladder should go from L5-L11 (note overlap with IC) - the Management ladder should go from from L5-SVP/CEO (I don't know the numbers for SVP, but I'm guessing ~13 or so...).