this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2023
1020 points (99.2% liked)
Memes
45894 readers
1056 users here now
Rules:
- Be civil and nice.
- Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
To anyone dreading this for real, there are places where you can get ahead as an IC and it's considered a parallel career track to management. 0 direct reports. Maybe some mentoring, if you want, but that's it.
You just have to find those places
Is IC individual contractor in context?
Contributor. The ceiling is lower though. You get to (senior) principle and that's the end of code monkey positions usually.
Typically, but employers are getting wise. They don't want to lose their best technical talent just because they're on the spectrum or whatever. Or arguably worse: see them sputter out in a hybrid management/tech role that is more lucrative, but much less impactful than if they'd just stayed tech.
Staff, and architect are two other roles that are sometimes like that. Yet other places will just keep going up levels / pay bands, like eng I, II; senior eng I, II, III, IV, ..., VII, etc