Ask HN: Are you on a technical specialist career path, what does it look like?

In the software industry we are advertised that above the Senior SW Engineer level there's a bifurcation in the career progression path (resembling the "Y" letter) and one could possible proceed to:

- A management career path

- A technical specialist career path

While there's plenty of material available on a manager's role and responsibilities, it's much harder to find a consensus on what a technical specialist role looks like.

So, are you on a technical specialist career path in you company? In case you are what are your responsibilities, and what does a typical work week look like for you?

Also, if your company provides a technical specialist career path (even if you've not reached it yet), how's it structured?

Thanks in advance!

Related discussions:

[1] On Being a Principal Engineer (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19128489)

[2] What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Does (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20851476)