[LeoDaVibeci]

Titles are such gross oversimplifications, I wonder if "manager" even holds much meaning anymore?

If you look at the IC track of the engineering ladder at a big tech company, the "Distinguished/Principal Engineer" is technically an IC role, but they have so much organization leadership responsibility that it feels wrong to say they aren't doing high level "management" as part of their role.

I have trouble wrapping my head around the exact distinction of manager vs IC the higher up the engineering ladder you go.

I imagine as a Principal Engineer you are essentially directing other tech leaders, even though you don't directly perform performance reviews on them? (that's for the SVP Eng?)

[andrewgodwin]

This is where I separate "manager" from "leader". As a principal level IC, I'm part of "engineering leadership" along with the senior managers, but not a manager.

The work isn't that different to management, sure, but it is different. You're not doing performance reviews... but if someone is over performing you can help get them promoted and if you think someone is doing really badly you can help get them fired.

[LeoDaVibeci]

Makes sense. You're managing lots of things (architecture, processes, etc), but you're just not directly managing people.

[justonceokay]

I can fire you. You can’t fire me. That’s the difference