> I don't see how you could disappear when promoted
A lot of your work at the senior level is harder to track. If a junior engineer stops pulling tickets off the queue, somebody is going to notice. If a senior spends a couple of weeks taking cross-functional meetings and writing docs at the start of a new project, nobody really blinks an eye. Sometimes the manager doesn't catch in time that they aren't coming back out of that phase...
A lot of your work at the senior level is harder to track. If a junior engineer stops pulling tickets off the queue, somebody is going to notice. If a senior spends a couple of weeks taking cross-functional meetings and writing docs at the start of a new project, nobody really blinks an eye. Sometimes the manager doesn't catch in time that they aren't coming back out of that phase...