IC VS Manager
The following is from an email I wrote to my manager 3 years ago about my struggle in the career development as a designer. Ironically, a few months after sending this mail, I accepted the manager position. I was not completely willing to take the job, but I told myself to be open to any possibility. Three years later, I still miss the days as an IC, but I am finding new purposes as a manager.
Why I want to stay as an IC?
For me, Individual contributor (IC) and manager are two entirely different careers with different skillsets. I think many designers like me at some point would like to focus on their craft and want to deliver impactful design, which requires a lot of energy and attention to the execution. Late-stage IC work, in my understanding, tends to focus more on connecting dots by communicating ideas among cross-functional partners rather than execution. It’s totally fine, as this still heavily focuses on delivering product innovation.
Managing people and engaging with politics in particular can be exhausting, even though they are not entirely bad things. It may not be the interests of many people, and certainly not something everyone is good at, especially for designers who has tremendous passion in design and take pride in their work. Many of us who immensely enjoy the tangible output of our work more than we like the idea of helping define career paths, providing opportunities and cover for teammates, or negotiating career pathways for those we work with.
But why would I also fear to stay as an IC?
First, there seems to be a lack of an unanimous and clear gauge of IC designer impact, so it’s really difficult to see a clear future if I want to be an IC within the company for a long term. We can see many designers shifting to a managerial position for salary increase and bigger impact, but not many examples of high-level ICs. So it’s natural for some designers to consider the option if they want to advance to more senior levels.
“How much is enough?” That’s something I struggle with. Performance reviews are an art, not a science. That means that the process for advancing in one’s career is far too opaque and circumstantial. Design impact from an IC can be even more abstract given the nature of design, as it is often subjective and too dependent on stakeholders to be realized in actual products. The story might be different for people managers as they have more tangible measurement like satisfaction rate or team scope, etc.
Second, there is also shared corporate or cultural assumption that moving into management was the only path to leadership in the workplace. Staying as an IC might not get fair resource, scope or reach to drive enough impact to justify career advancement. Move into a management role to become a formally recognized leader may help you drive bigger impact. Our studio also has this mapping to the product teams that are responsible for really different products or parts of a product. Sometimes, the product team shifts so the design shifts with it. This might greatly impact the role of an IC. It doesn’t feel like there’s any other way to grow and do meaningful work at-scale with our current setup. But being a manager and leading multiple products seem more stable to weather through this kind of shifts and still deliver impact.
Third, peer and social pressure. With other designers stepping into the role of managers, there is definitely pressure for the same level ICs. If you stay as IC, does it mean you’re stuck? What will your partners or outsiders think? Will they treat ICs equally and with the same respect? I think a reverse question to test this perception is “can a manager move back to an IC role? Will this move be perceived as demotion?” These may seem all external and imagined factors, but if we have ways to recognize IC contribution and reward them, they will be more confident and willing to stay.
The above is my personal struggle on this matter.
At last, I want to share a bit what kind of IC I aspire to or look up to. These are the standards I hold myself to:
Design leadership - clear and acute product vision, strong perspective on design, great user insight, extensive domain knowledge.
Design influence - ability to influence stakeholders to buy in, design knowledge sharing internally or externally, ability to rally other designers to innovate.
Excellent craft - great execution skills, delivery with function and aesthetics, ability to define framework, style and direction.
Business impact - deep understanding of business, delivering on business results with design, moving industry forward.
