As an engineer or technical expert, your role is clear: work hard, bill as much as possible, and recognize you were hired to work for and not improve the company. Marketing and management appear to be self-elevated and appear to have either systematically or coincidentally maneuvered most upward mobility and opportunity to contribute to the company's growth from the desks of the engineers and technical experts.
It appears that only if an engineer or technical expert ascends into office or division management will they ever go anywhere other than the lower, wide and flat area of the org chart. If the engineer does ascend into management, they then incur two fulltime jobs: management and continuing to bill as an engineer. Tough on a family man or woman.
I have personally received negative feedback from plenty of people in the industry. While I used to mention my prior employment there positively to prospective clients, I have ceased this exercise as I think it may do more harm than good.
