инженер -> лид -> менеджер -> директор.

Программисты — это не инженеры.

In 2004, Keith Chapple of the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 760,840 software engineers holding jobs in the U.S.; in the same period there were some 1.4 million practitioners employed in the U.S. in all other engineering disciplines combined.[2] The label software engineer is used very liberally in the corporate world. Very few of the practicing software engineers actually hold Engineering degrees from accredited universities.

In Canada it is illegal to practise engineering, or use the title «Professional Engineer», without a licence. Engineering in Canada is regulated in the public interest by self-governing professional licensing bodies. These bodies were established by Canada's 13 provincial and territorial governments through legislation. The provincial and territorial governments have delegated their constitutional authority to regulate engineers and engineering in Canada to professional licensing bodies that are maintained and governed by the profession, creating a system of self-regulation.

The use of the term «engineer» was an issue between professional bodies, the I.T. industry, and the security industry, where companies or associations may issue certifications or titles with the word «engineer» as part of that title (such as security engineer or Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer). Microsoft have since changed the title to «Microsoft Certified IT Professional». Several licensing bodies for professional engineering contend that only licensed professional engineers are legally allowed to use the title «Engineer». The I.T. industry, on the other hand, counters that:
These title holders never presented themselves as «Professional Engineers»;
Provincial laws, other than in Quebec and Ontario, regulate only the use of term «Professional Engineer», and not any title with the word «Engineer» in it; in Quebec and Ontario, the term «Engineer» is protected by both the Engineers Act[27] and by section 32 of the Professional Code[28]); and,
The I.T. industry has used the term «engineer» since the dawn of the computing industry in the 60s.[29]
Court rulings regarding the usage of the term «engineer» have been mixed. For example, after complaints from the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers, a court in Quebec fined Microsoft Canada $1,000 for misusing the «engineer» title by referring to MCSE graduates as «engineers».[30] Conversely, an Alberta court dismissed the lawsuit filed by The Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGGA) against Raymond Merhej for using the title «System Engineer», claiming that, «The Respondent's situation is such that it cannot be contended that the public is likely to be deceived, confused or jeopardized by his use of the term…»[31] APEGGA also lost the appeal to this decision.[32]
The Canadian Information Processing Society[33] and in particular CIPS Ontario[34] have attempted to strike a balance between the professional engineering licensing bodies and the IT industry over the use of the term «engineer» in the software industry, but so far no major agreements or decisions have been announced.

Уже в Петербурге потолок зарплат в среднем падает на 30-40 тыс. рублей,

в Петербурге потолок зарплат в среднем падает на 30-40 тыс. рублей,

В Спб потолок, ну минимум на вскидку 150к. При желании можно наверно и до 200к найти

платить программистам в Москве до 220 тыс. рублей