Mike Davidson wrote about his recent career move to Twitter in San Francisco. I could quote the whole thing, but you should probably just go read it.

Here’s one of my favorite bits about managing vs being an individual contributor:

One of my favorite rules at Twitter - at least within Engineering, Product, and Design - is that there is no such thing as a “promotion into management”. If you want to become a manager of people, it is always a lateral move. For example, if you are a senior designer and you decide you want to manage people instead of pixels, and leadership deems you ready for it, you can become a Design Manager. That move, however, does not “level you up” in the system, nor come with a pay increase, nor put you on any sort faster career track. You’ve simply moved from concentrating directly on product problems/opportunities to concentrating on people problems/opportunities. I believe some other companies have this rule as well, but it’s really fantastic for what it encourages: people should do the type of work that is most fulfilling to them and most valuable to the company. A fantastic I.C. (Individual Contributor) is just as valuable as a fantastic manager, and the system should reward and encourage both career branches equally.