Transition Backwards - Manager to Individual contributor

In this blog, I will talk about an approach to moving back to the individual contributor role and overcoming the challenges.

Photo by 愚木混株 cdd20 on Unsplash

Do you want to move back to an individual contributor role?

It is an important decision to make. Even today, many managers want to return to individual contributor roles.

If you are still in dilemma whether to move to individual contributor, read my blog which can help with the decision making.

But if you have decided to be an individual contributor, this blog is for you.

I will discuss the challenges, preparation, and steps while moving to an individual contributor role.

The Challenges

Following are the challenges that you might encounter during the transitions.

These challenges will help you prepare better.

Challenge#1: Opportunities
Given that you have been playing a manager role for some time, the opportunities for you to move to an individual contributor role might be limited in the current organization.

So, understand the available opportunities within the organization to ascertain whether they align with your future career aspirations.

Challenge#2: Role
If there are opportunities for you to move towards being an individual contributor role, the clarity of the new role and how it aligns with the company's goals and your career aspiration could be difficult.

Since you are in a manager role, getting clarity on, how the new role will not overlap with other existing peers will help you decide whether it is the right role.

Challenge#3: Industry changes
If you are planning to move out from the current organization due to no opportunity, then how your technology experience is aligned with the changes in the industry is difficult to understand.

Technology is changing rapidly and there are so many advancements in the market. So choose the path carefully so that the move towards individual contributor role will be beneficial.

Challenge#4: Experience misalignment
The manager role is very different from the individual contributor role. So aligning experience for the change in role could take time as not all hiring managers will understand your reasons.

Hence writing an effective resume to showcase your experience alignment with an individual contributor will become important.

Challenge#5: Salary
Since you are moving from a manager role, there may be doubts about your performance as an individual contributor. Hence the new organization might offer a slightly lower position or negotiate a lower salary to prove yourself.

This may take away, the perks, and high salary that come with a management role. Preparing yourself to manage financial commitments with a slightly lower income would help.

The Preparation

Moving back to the individual contributor role is going to take time. So preparing yourself for better outcomes is important.

Here are a few suggestions that you can use to prepare yourself.

Suggestion#1: Refresh your technical skills
Many of them think that certification from online courses does not add value.

However since you are planning to move to a different role, these certifications will help you to create credibility about technical knowledge.

Taking online courses that are relevant for your future role path, will also help to refresh your memory on the technical skills.

Suggestion#2: Get hands-on experience
To showcase that you can be hands-on, completing online coding exercises on reputed websites will help.

Enrolling in online coding platforms for the courses will further improve your credibility of being a hands-on experience.

In your current management role, check for any hands-on opportunity as it will help you to prepare better.

Suggestion#3: Participate in mock interviews
Individual contributor role interviews are different from management role interviews.

So participate in mock interviews that will give you feedback on areas of improvement.

The mock interviews also help to understand your preparation and readiness to take on actual interviews.

Suggestion#4: Networking with peers
Getting in touch with your peers who are still in individual contributor roles, helps to understand the situation, opportunities and perks available.

It can also help with referrals and build credibility about your experience as an individual contributor.

Networking can help in understanding salaries that are running in the market. This information can help during negotiations.

Suggestion#5: Industry buzz
Technology keeps changing day by day. Reading about new trends and buzzwords will help to present your interest in those trends.

The information about the trends in the industry shows you are up-to-date on how the industry is changing and your views about it.

This will help to build your credibility in interviews.

The Steps

This section will provide steps you can take in the next 6 months. This is enough time for you to prepare and start getting a few interview calls.

Month 1:
- Update your resume to align individual contributor job opening roles.
- Take up mock interviews for practice purposes.

Month 2:
- Try to complete a certificate online course on architectural patterns
- Try to complete at least 2 certification courses.

Month 3:
- Use your LinkedIn network for referrals for job opportunities.
- Use any recruitment agency for job opportunities.

Month 4:
- Start actively applying in job portals.
- At least 2 or 3 job portals for applying for jobs.

Month 5:
Assuming things go your way, attend interviews through a job portal or referral even though opportunities do not align with your expectations.

Month 6:
If there are no interview calls, purchase a premium plan in any one of the job portals to increase the probability of getting an interview call.

The above steps are indicative but give you an idea of how you can approach the job application and the time it will take to start getting interview calls.

Final Thoughts

Moving from a manager position to an individual contributor role is going to be tricky and time-consuming.

Without losing hope and confidence stick to your decision and take the necessary steps.

Before you make the move, prepare yourself by completing online courses, taking mock interviews and tying up with recruitment agencies to increase the probability of getting an interview call.

If you have decided to move back to an individual contributor role, do so but have patience as it might take time and energy for this transition.