This hasn't been my experience at the larger companies. There's always room to grow and stay in a purely technical role.
Prior to this I'd been doing freelance work and there it's more difficult. Especially if you don't have any particular unique skill or tight relationship with a solid client or a high level of marketing savvy, it's hard to compete with kids that are willing to do things at half the price. And I think that's fair: even though I consider myself a very solid coder, most consulting gigs I've worked on could have been handled by someone less skilled and worked out just fine.
Prior to this I'd been doing freelance work and there it's more difficult. Especially if you don't have any particular unique skill or tight relationship with a solid client or a high level of marketing savvy, it's hard to compete with kids that are willing to do things at half the price. And I think that's fair: even though I consider myself a very solid coder, most consulting gigs I've worked on could have been handled by someone less skilled and worked out just fine.