Everyone wants to be an "L5" but honestly, it isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Endless meetings with mbas asking how it can be done in half the time, hours wasted on mentoring people who don't seem to care, and thankless hours of code cleanup after everyone's logged off. Then after all the heavy lifting, having to be gracious enough to let PMs and Directors act like they did something useful.

Even work friends feel superficial. Every coffee inevitably ends with an ask. Even genuinely friendly people are mostly simping. I'm purely a commodity that puts out code, while other roles at this level are thought of as "strategic".

Maybe I'm venting, but it feels like a lonely climb where your time is wasted at work, and then you start when everyone goes to bed.