The senior engineer death spiral

A common failure mode for engineers stepping into bigger roles or new jobs is an overcompensation spiral: trying to prove seniority by tackling ambitious projects alone, disappearing for weeks with vague “things are going well” updates, then working excessive hours in secret until sleep, relationships, and productivity collapse. Remote work, looser task structures, and greater ownership make it easy to become siloed, so teammates stop noticing until performance problems are acute. The spiral accelerates as missed deliverables breed shame, isolation, and burnout, sometimes ending in performance plans, quitting, or extended leave; this pattern is familiar enough that it’s recognizable early if you watch for the signs.

The corrective is counterintuitive: drop a level and become an excellent teammate rather than pretending to be a higher-level engineer. Assume others operate in good faith, communicate constantly, and prioritize small, ordinary work - bug fixes, documentation, chores, reviews - that rebuilds momentum and trust. Shift from outcome-obsession to momentum-based routines: daily incremental progress that becomes muscle memory yields far more over months than frantic bursts. Reliability and repaired relationships put you back in the reputation-building business, after which larger, visible responsibilities follow naturally.