The Beauty of the IC: A Mid-level Design Career Reflection

I’ve reached a point in my career where I’ve solidly moved into the “intermediate” stage; a mid-leveler who is no longer junior but not relatively senior.

It’s a great place to be. It kind of makes me think of my sophomore and junior years in high school, where I reached the age where my personality began to crystalize and the core things that make me who I am today began to take hold.

It’s not the same, however, since career trajectories can change dramatically at the drop of a dime, but you know what I’m getting at.

For instance, if I remained in the fashion industry to this day, I would have had 10+ years of experience under my belt now. That would have solidly made me a Senior Designer.

Unfortunately, being a Senior Designer in the fashion industry — specifically where I was in the children’s wear mid-mass market — doesn’t carry the same weight (or pay grade for that matter) that working in tech does, but that’s a story for another day.

So here I am now, having reset and restarted my design career in tech where things still feel new but are also becoming familiar and less daunting than they were almost three years ago when I embarked on this journey.

(And of course, those 7–8 years as a designer in fashion weren’t for nothing!)

Designing in the trenches

I like being an IC (Individual Contributor.) I could see myself doing so for a while. Since I work on the agency side of things, I have gotten to work on a lot of projects in a short period, which has accelerated my growth. I’ve gotten to touch so many aspects of the project cycle too.

During the summer I read this awesome article by Aly Blenkin called Returning to Craft: How returning to the craft taught me to be a better leader.

It got me thinking about the future, say 2–3 more years from now. What could management look like for me? Would that be something I’d want to strive for?

I love the craft aspect of design too. I also enjoy getting a bit more technical with things, like having the opportunity to dabble in some coding or code-adjacent stuff or do some data analysis.

I stay curious and love trying new things to sharpen my abilities.

Do all pathways lead to management?

I’ve gotten used to a fair bit of self-management, holding myself accountable for my tasks, planning my days pretty meticulously (I love my calendar blocks y’all,) and communicating well with others. Perhaps moving into the role of management would come pretty naturally to me. Others have even told me so.

Question is, is that career trajectory what I want?

In the article mentioned above (citing Charity Majors, co-founder, and CTO of Honeycomb) it’s stated that the IC to Manager trajectory acts more like a pendulum, where one swings back and forth between the two over their career.

There is also the notion that the title “Senior Designer” isn’t always synonymous with manager, but there is this underlying expectation that you would do some managing inadvertently.

I’ve had a few opportunities to manage others in my current role, even as a non-senior IC. My team is so small that if my manager is out, I’m the one naturally stepping forward to lead the charge — doing tasks like helping to direct and collaborate with freelance designers and kick off the design phase of projects.

Then there’s my manager himself, who is fully engaged in designing alongside me in the trenches. I wouldn’t have it any other way and I know that isn’t always possible in all companies, especially larger orgs. But it’s something I don’t take for granted even in my current role.

Leadership mismatches

In my past career in fashion design, I dealt with a lot of VPs and leaders that didn’t understand the craft. This lead to massive amounts of friction between them and me and was ultimately why I left the industry (well, among other reasons, but again, we can discuss that another time.) There was simply a level of understanding that was missing from those who managed me.

I’m happier now that I can work alongside others who have a robust understanding of my work and the value it brings to the team. These are fellow practitioners with whom I share the same vision, ambition, and drive.

Managing others effectively is an awesome trait, but it doesn’t always come automatically with seniority.

Some of the best designers out there are not necessarily equipped to lead others, and it’s a bit unfair to expect all senior-level designers to become managers — making that their only path to accelerate their careers.

But in that same breath, managing others can teach you a lot about yourself.

• How well can you foster the growth of someone less experienced than you?
• What can you learn from that experience?

Whether I’m an IC or a Manager, one thing is true:

Always be learning.

Closing thoughts

So lastly, I want to restate that I’m pretty content where I’m at in my mid-career milestone, firmly an IC. I do great work with fantastic teammates and work very closely with my manager who is also a very talented designer. We build on one another’s skills and I’ve gained so much in the process.

I also want to say if you’re experiencing burnout, fatigue, or unhappiness in your design role it might be time to step back and evaluate why. Are you a manager that doesn’t want to manage? An unfulfilled or mismanaged IC? Or something completely unrelated? — Because life happens.

Maybe you’re ready for your next chapter.

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Aria is a Designer and Creative Technologist from New York City. She’s currently working as a Designer at the Data Visualization and Storytelling agency, The DataFace. You can find her on LinkedIn, Twitter, and her Portfolio.