Exactly. We've gotten rid of managers or created brand new roles in order to retain key engineers. Managers are often easier to replace than these engineers.
If you're an IC that is providing clear & visible value to upper-management you likely wield more power than you think.
The opposite of that is more common I think, and really pisses me off. More often, I think, upper management will protect the lower managers and side with them whenever there's a dispute with an IC, even intentionally pushing the IC out.
My assumption is that upper management doesn't want to admit they've made a mistake in hiring their subordinate managers. And all of this just goes to reinforce the existing power structures.
> My assumption is that upper management doesn't want to admit they've made a mistake in hiring their subordinate managers.
Avoiding situations like this is why we praise failure. When someone says “I made a mistake, this is what I learned, and this is how I will avoid making the same mistake” I give them much more respect then when they are just accepting bad outcomes.
Edit: And when I work with someone for longer than a year and they haven’t claimed any failures I assume they are either covering them up, not noticing them, or not engaging in risky enough behavior.
If you're an IC that is providing clear & visible value to upper-management you likely wield more power than you think.