My thoughts about the Principal role
I have personally not found the staff/principal level very enjoyable or satisfying. You end up being a hub for the larger team, helping everyone do their jobs. I'm not just referring to the coders.<p>It's very draining and I resent that the industry classifies this type of work as technical IC work. A small subset of these higher "IC" roles do get to focus on technical IC work, but for most people a staff/principal role is basically going to be that of a co-manager with no authority.<p>I've been considering down-leveling or getting into some software niche where technical expertise is actually valued and existentially necessary to the business.