I didn’t work long hours as a developer, except in an emergency. That usually didn’t happen unless somebody screwed up.

One time, I decided that I was working for an unethical organization and decided to leave. A manager in another division convinced me to move to her department.

She later told me that if I had left, somebody would have been fired (Earlier, an edict came down to cut staff. I had been there 6 months. Two engineering department heads, with over 200 engineers, told them that they could lay anybody off except me.)

You have to determine what “move up the ladder” is. I never wanted to be a manager. As long as I got salary increases, interesting projects and not much interference, I didn’t care.

My article “Managers: How do You Manage a Cat?” outlines that perfectly.

You have to analyze your own situation. All are different.