During the golden years of Oracle, there were lots of promotions of developers to Directors, regardless of whether they could manage or not. Some were really bad leaders. Basically, Oracle had a weak advancement strategy for individual contributors so they took the easy way out and made the superstars into Directors, and some eventually to VPs. This made the structure top-heavy with lots of layers, and this hierarchy survives today although it has been hollowed out recently in some divisions.
Post ID: @YNd4WkN-1kab
I haven't seen any management hierarchy "hollowed out" in my area. Anyone? To me, it looks like management are never laid off.... unless perhaps if the entire area is removed.