Been at ORCL for 15 years and I'm an IC (now). I chose to move out of management because I couldn't stand lying to my team and misleading them that there was a opportunity to move ahead and get any pay increases. I was an M4 and was told by my immediate management who to "promote" and when. To be very clear - there are very few promotions that have a title change AND base pay raise. 95% of the title changes are in name only, there is no change in pay and that's very deliberate. It has absolutely nothing to do with the skills, efforts, education or contributions of the person - it is 100% management perception of your "willingness to support the current regime" and if you're "hooked up" with higher management. So all the hard working people with the altruistic views of contributing to the good of the company - you're not going to get rewarded. Not here in this company with this "leadership". So if that's important to you, you need to find another company that will give you the promotions and pay you deserve. Don't wait it out here - it will never happen.
This is a repost from @XbSLPjU-2foa . Thought more people should see this, as it is the sad truth, spoken from a person who is familiar with the situation “first hand”. Thanks, OP.