Let's cut the corporate euphemisms: there's a festering discontent with middle and upper-level leadership in tech, and for good reason.
These roles are increasingly viewed as what they often are: parasitic leeches, draining value and lifeblood from the people doing the actual work, while contributing absolutely nothing meaningful.
I’ve been embedded in this firm’s tech trenches for over 20 years. I saw how this rot began. For those of us who remember the 1995-2005 era, teams were lean, and our tech stack was primitive by today's standards—Shell scripts, SQL, Mainframes, PowerBuilder, Oracle Forms, basic web junk. The heavy lifting? Almost entirely done by contractors. And who took the credit? Full-time employees, myself included, who mastered the art of looking busy.
Most of today’s so-called tech "leaders" were barely out of school, stuck in grades 5-6 until around 2009. Then the tech bubble inflated again, and these "body-shopping" managers—glorified contractor coordinators with zero genuine technical acumen—were suddenly catapulted into "leadership" positions they were laughably unqualified for. When contractor armies dwindled, their grift continued: coasting on the efforts of actual engineers.
The arrival of truly skilled junior FTEs was their personal nightmare. It starkly exposed their profound incompetence. Unable to steal credit from these genuinely capable hires, they pivoted to a more insidious strategy: systematically sabotaging and sidelining any strong technical talent. They then built a protective moat of low-skill, sycophantic "yes-men" around themselves—a buffer of mediocrity to ensure their own survival.
Come performance review season, they expertly we-ponize "competence." Top performers are dismissed with snake-like phrases: "Technically brilliant, but struggles with collaboration." The blatant translation? "They see through our incompetence and won't let us steal their work," or more simply, "They're too good, and it makes us look bad." Now festering in grades 8-9, these "leaders" remain deeply insecure, talentless hacks obsessed with hollow titles, shamelessly slapping their names on patents and projects they had zero involvement with.
This isn't just a local infection; it's a global pandemic of dysfunction:
In the U.S.: We're choking on a bloated stratum of grade 8-9 "leaders" who are:
Chronically demotivated, radiating apathy.
Clueless about their actual purpose, if any.
A glut of VPs, Architects, and SLs squabbling over a shrinking pie of relevance.
Masters of chaos, constantly changing direction with zero coherent communication.
In India:
Firm has meticulously constructed an absurdly top-heavy pyramid of non-productive,
non-delivery roles. India is a cost center; its prime directive should be maximizing
workforce efficiency. Instead, we've engineered:
Multiple, redundant layers of do-nothing managers.
A laughable proliferation of "Head" positions whose value is utterly indiscernible.
Middle management that exists for no reason other than to perpetuate bureaucracy
and self-importance.
While frontline managers working directly with teams might have a purpose, what in God's name does this bloated middle layer contribute besides more meetings and obstructions?
A Harsh Mirror for You So-Called Tech "Leaders":
Competence Farce: Are you genuinely skilled in your supposed domain, or just a slick corporate politician, a master of brown-nosing?
Moral Bankruptcy Audit: Haven't you already feathered your nest enough? Is your insatiable greed for credit and wealth ever going to end?
Tech Evasion Tactics: Do actual technical discussions send you into a cold sweat, forcing you to desperately pivot to vapid buzzwords like "culture," "collaboration," and "innovation" to mask your ignorance?
The Hands-Off Fraud Test: Could you actually write a line of code, manage a Git commit, or handle basic DevOps tasks? Or do you just delegate, dictate, and then shamelessly take all the credit?
I can only imagine the utter contempt a junior FTE—someone lightyears more talented and capable than you in every conceivable way—must feel when they look at you. Let’s be brutally honest: nobody respects you. Not your teams, not your peers, and certainly not anyone who actually understands technology.
So, here's your ultimatum:
Attempt Redemption: Try to salvage your image. Step up, publicly acknowledge your glaring shortcomings, and for once in your career, attempt to lead with a shred of competence and integrity. (Unlikely, I know).
Stay the Parasitic Course: Cling desperately to your outdated, predatory, and frankly pathetic style of "leadership." Watch as your relevance—and your entire career—inevitably marches towards a well-deserved extinction.
The choice is yours. But make no mistake: the world is advancing, rapidly. It will leave you behind, forgotten in the dustbin of obsolete management fads.
Let’s be brutally frank – most of us who've been in "leadership" for years (myself included, initially) have made a ki-ling. We've amassed significant wealth. The burning question you need to ask your reflection: When is enough truly ENOUGH?
Perhaps the only honorable exit left for many of you is to finally admit your time is long past, your act is stale, and make way for fresh talent and genuine vision. I’ve made my decision – I’m getting out in the coming months. I refuse to be part of this charade any longer.