TAC doesn't want high grade employees. It's easier to hire lower grade (read: cheaper) ones.
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The future of engineers in TAC is the same as the future of engineers in any other group:
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Begrudgingly get promoted up to GL 10 - 11 with multiple years in between.
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Do the best they can to keep you pigeon holed into a specific technology hoping you will ride it down the tubes so they don't have to replace you and train a new person.
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As product revenues fall with the corresponding service revenue slowly weed out the more expensive older employees.
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At some point just axe the group you are in entirely and let you scramble to find a new position or ignore you as you walk out the door.
Engineers need to know if they want to be individual contributors their path will be capped and employers need to know that within a given salary band there is value in building this class of worker for the long term.
I was aware that my path would be capped and I was ok with that. But Cisco doesn't seem to know about the value in building a group of subject matter experts with a deep understanding of the work that they do. Granted, if the individual contributor doesn't stay current with technology, then s/he should not be kept. My team had a training budget and we used it to stay current, but Cisco didn't care.
To be promoted you have to do more than take cases and get good bingo scores.
If you want to be called an architect you have to do more than measure and cut drywall. Why is this either a surprise or an injustice?
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle:
It states that the selection of a candidate for a position is based on the candidate's performance in their current role, rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role.
A well run company prevents this by:
1) Defining clear roles at each level
2) Providing opportunity to execute at the next level to justify attaining the higher title
3) Granting that higher title in a timely manner
At least on the development side Cisco fails catastrophically on all three points. Having promoted far too many unqualified people into the leadership structure they don't know enough to know what they need to promote going forward. This is a major reason why Cisco has depended largely on acquisitions for most of the past quarter century.
Far lesser known and executed (well):
4) A path for people who excel at a given level who either can't or won't make the next step
Cisco has done this in the form of Engineer 4s who are over 60 years old, but they didn't maintain the skills at the level they can play at so they became useless and had to be tossed. Engineers need to know if they want to be individual contributors their path will be capped and employers need to know that within a given salary band there is value in building this class of worker for the long term.
Former TAC engineer here. There is no true career advancement in TAC. It'd a dead end support role. To be promoted you have to do more than take cases and get good bingo scores. You'll have to not only rock your cases, but find the time to create new tools, develop cross-product skill sets, and be seen by higher ups for these achievements. TAC managers try hard to ensure you don't leave TAC. This is why they have TAC career fairs so if you get burned out on your current team you can join a new team without leaving TAC. Despite what anyone says, TAC is nothing more than a glorified call center job.
Services revenue is growing QoQ. its grew like 5%. Cisco wants to a big player in Services. They no longer going to Innovate and they keep acquiring some Random companies and some might click and Cisco sells expensive TSA contracts and tie customers for 3 to 5 year periods. Gradually they will keep releasing new product version from Hardware to Virtualization. TAC will survive because Cisco has obligation to support install base.
The best you should do is to speak to your manager.
Posting here won't help you advance for sure !
Why would you assume career advancement? Revenue is declining every quarter