Any experiences you can share? THoughts?
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I’ve been a GTE/Verizon employee for 28 years. I started in management at GTE corporate GO as a staff administrator. I did that career path for 6 years and decided to quit. This timeline also corresponded with Verizon deciding to freeze management pensions. At the time, 2 other people I worked with decided to go outside. They convinced me to try it before I just quit.
I ended up transferring out to an COEI position.
I got to keep my pension growing and with the occasional overtime hours I’ve made over the years. I doubt my management path would have paid me better. I also, have no drama to deal with. No people to manage, no nonsense or trying to placate mo--ns that have no business leading or being directors or VPs. Nor do I answer repeated stupid emails from people that should already know the answer. When I decide to go home. I go home. The work is easy at this point because I’ve seen it all. I haven’t had to deal with any dysfunctional personalities in decades. Other than the occasional stupid question from a director or the often stupidity of the union.
If you’re capable of leaving management and going to tools. I highly recommend it. Key word is capable. I’ve found that likely 90% of management is completely incapable and incompetent of doing anything other than attaching themselves to group emails to seem as though they are participating on projects. The questions alone are enough to tell me they would flounder if they actually had to perform a physical work task.
So now you want to work instead of being in cirkle je-k do nothing meetings all day?
IC = less money
Best thing you can do it to stay in IC , you get to do real work and it's much easier to the mind. 0 politics
ur less likely to be laid off if ur IC
management isn't necessarily a step up, just a differrent career path. i've seen people move back to IC roles and be much happier because they can focus on actual work instead of meetings, politics, and managing people. the tricky part is making sure your skills are still current and being comfortable with potentially losing some status or pay. it's also harder to make the switch mid-career than people realize. if you're seriously considering it, i'd focus less on the title and more on what you actually want to spend your days doing.