i am 47. i was a senior eng for nine years, then an EM for five, then back to senior IC three months ago. by choice. by relief.
the stack changed when i went back to IC. sharing because three of the women i mentored when i was an EM have asked me about it.
what i used as an EM:
slack as the constant background. lots of 1:1 dms. lots of coordinating. lots of meetings.
linear for visibility on what my team was doing.
notion for org docs, growth plans, my own private notes about each report.
a calendar that was 70% meetings.
zoom for everything.
what i use now as a senior ic:
slack still, but i am in fewer channels. i muted three. i did not announce that i muted them.
cursor for the actual code work. this is my primary tool now and it was barely in my stack as an EM.
linear for my own tickets, which is a different thing than tracking other people's tickets.
notion for design docs, RFC drafts, and architectural decisions i am writing for my team. about 4 documents in active rotation right now.
gamma for the technical talks i am giving internally. as an EM i never had time to give technical talks. as a senior IC i am giving one a month. the ai presentation tool turns my notion design docs into talk-shaped decks in 15 minutes. used to take me a Saturday.
excalidraw for the architecture diagrams that go in the talks. gamma cannot do these well.
a calendar that is now 20% meetings.
what i did not expect: the thing i miss most about being an EM is the mentorship. the thing i miss least is the slide work. as an EM i made probably 60 decks per year (team updates, headcount pitches, project readouts, reviews, reorgs). most of them were time-soak. as a senior IC i make maybe 12 decks per year and they are all things i actually want to make.
i am paid less now than i was as an EM. about 8% less. it is the best money trade i have ever made.
posting because if you are a woman EM thinking about going back to IC, the math may be in your favor in ways the standard career advice does not capture. the stack changes. the labor profile changes. your sleep changes. give the move serious consideration.