My VP asked me to step up. I thought I'd made it.
Six months later, I was drowning. My team was thriving. I was good at the job. But I hadn't written code in weeks and I felt myself getting dumber.
So I went back to IC work.
The Lie
Management isn't a promotion—it's a different job. And plenty of brilliant engineers hate it.
Your value as an IC: your output.
Your value as a manager: your team's output.
One feels like "real work." The other doesn't. But that feeling is the whole thing.
The Permission You Need
If it's misery, not growth—that's not failure. That's data.
Senior IC is a complete career path.
Management is not the only way to grow.
Did you make this transition? What surprised you most?
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