A pattern I've seen a lot of is people joining a young startup as the founding engineer, and then move to an engineering director role once the company gets a good round of funding. Eventually the startup will push them out, where they'll either turn a side project into a business, or make a lateral move as an engineering director somewhere bigger.
I chose to keep being a software writer, and lean into mentoring. I'm 50, and don't have trouble with respect or salary. I don't know European employment law, but over in the states it's common for higher performing devs to shop their skills around every couple of years to find a better salary.
I just described that very arc to my partner as one possible new direction to take my career. I have 30 years full stack experience with embedded systems, and I am at a point where I want to look for founding engineer positions. If my team grew bigger than I could manage myself (while still being able to keep my hands in the code), I would happily step down to an engineering director role. In the improbable event that it was wildly successful, I would want leave before things scaled too far… only to repeat the cycle again somewhere else.
I don't think it's planned, it's just how things tend to turn out. At least for the three startups I've worked with.
If you're really good at cranking out code before your fledgling company runs out of money, that doesn't necessarily mean you're good at people management or leading. At a certain size, your company is going to need those skills more, and won't want to keep someone around at a C-level salary who's just slinging code.
The founding eng directors I've met all separated for different reasons. One took a buyout after the company was purchased, another had a side business that became profitable and helped find his own replacement, and the last one had his role downgraded when the company hired a CTO, and just got another job.
often its because the founder has a very different picture of why the company was founded and where it should be headed than the new vc-installed management.
its very much 'we love your passion' until its 'turn it down, we're trying to make money here'
I chose to keep being a software writer, and lean into mentoring. I'm 50, and don't have trouble with respect or salary. I don't know European employment law, but over in the states it's common for higher performing devs to shop their skills around every couple of years to find a better salary.