What's your story?

I've been coding a pretty long time. I've been the boss a decently long time. My combination of pay and benefits is good. My team is exceptional.

Is there a ladder?

It's chaos.

Do you feel like you belong on it?

I always end up being "the boss", because otherwise someone unqualified will do it and that annoys me.

Where are you on it?

I'm "the boss". I do political bullshit so my team doesn't have to. I get some extra money for my trouble. I still code because I'm stubborn and no one can really tell me what to do.

Does it make sense?

No.

Did you see major bumps in salary?

Several times, often 20% without changing jobs and usually at least 40% when I bother changing jobs. I'm still underpaid, though.

Did titles count at all?

I'm usually offered "pick your title" within three years of joining an organization. Before that it's usually just "senior developer", or "manager of development".

Titles are mostly meaningless for a programmer after they've had senior for more than 3 years.

Titles are what they give out instead of money. For new programmers that has value. For the rest of us, a lot of us just say "I'll take cash. Thanks."