Most engineers who stall at a level have the skill. What they don't have is anyone willing to explain the machine they're inside.
The explanation you get from your manager is partial by design. They know their part of the process and not the committee's, so what comes back is "keep doing what you're doing, you're close." Which is true, and useless, and then you're close again next cycle.
So here is the machine, reconstructed from what the four big companies publish, what their engineers write up afterward, and what levelling aggregators have pieced together. None of it is your company's internal doc. Check the specifics with your own manager.
The ladders don't line up
Stage
