> Its not a fantasy, this is path represents a huge percentage of managers/higher ups in software

It's also a part of the reason why at least historically there is such an insane hate for managers in hacker culture.

This was my experience after my startup was acquired. My boss, and my skip level were both former QA folks who'd never done any SWE work. I had more YOE as a SWE AND as a manager than both combined.