IC or Leader? Honor Your Passion!
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At most organizations, there are multiple paths for growth. You can continue evolving as an individual contributor or make the leap to leadership. But how do you decide which direction to take, and how can you best honor your passion?
Liz White, Senior Manager Product & Design...
At most organizations, there are multiple paths for growth. You can continue evolving as an individual contributor or make the leap to leadership. But how do you decide which direction to take, and how can you best honor your passion?
Liz White, Senior Manager Product & Design Operations at Aurora Solar, has been there. She wishes someone had advised her early in her career to focus on maximizing her strengths instead of dwelling on skill gaps. She'll share her experiences and get you to the next step in your career, whether that means leveling up as an IC or jumping to management.
You’ll take away:
- Advice to identify if a leadership role is right for you
- Tips to determine if a company can serve your growth
- How to communicate your expectations to your manager
- Ways to leverage your skills to achieve your goals
Meet The Speaker
Liz White has been leading teams to design, develop and launch technology solutions for over 20 years, in-house, as a consultant, at start-ups and at fortune 500 companies. Liz has a talent for connecting people with opportunities and finding solutions to problems. She is excited to extend her experience leading cross-functional program teams to leading product and design operations at Aurora Solar, a clean tech company with the mission of solar energy for all.
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Q&A
Q&A guidelines-
Have you noticed any differences between good leaders for remote teams vs in-person teams?
By: TeresaPosted on 2023-01-24 -
How to shift from individual technical expert to leader?
By: ShirleyPosted on 2023-01-24 -
How can I shift from indiv contributer to "leader" without necessarily managing or supervising other people?
By: Jessica, Technical WriterPosted on 2023-01-24 -
What do you do when big life changes life marriage and motherhood have so drastically changed the course of your life that you can’t seem to get back to what you were once passionate about nor...
By: MarvelynPosted on 2023-01-24 -
What is the best way to answer a scenario-base question?
By: Christian, Cloud EngineerPosted on 2023-01-23 -
How important is certification over experience when dealing with roles that involve your passions?
By: CJ, Historical ResearcherPosted on 2023-01-23 -
How can skills acquired over the years as an entrepreneur be transferable for roles as a IC or in management?
By: LatricePosted on 2023-01-23 -
What does it take to break into the Aerosoace industry when you are someone with an. extensive background in cyber security for all other industries?
By: Brandi, Cyber Security EngineerPosted on 2023-01-23 -
How can I identify my main skills?
By: EjiroPosted on 2023-01-23 -
As a Sr. Product Manager with indirect reports, how do I show value to gain promotions? What is the next step if I am not interested in directly managing people, but staying in the product field?
By: JamiePosted on 2023-01-23 -
I am 54 and I have been consulting (IT Finance and IT PM) in the past 11 years. I would like to return to the corporate world, but I don't know how to start. I have managed projects, programs,...
By: Susan, Project Finance ManagerPosted on 2023-01-23 -
How can someone stand out from the crowd in terms of career goals in 2023
By: Tunde, Scrum MasterPosted on 2023-01-23 -
How early in your career were you able to determine whether you want to be an IC or leader/manager?
By: BoluwatiwiPosted on 2023-01-23 -
I'm wanting to start my own business as a virtual paralegal.
By: CrystalPosted on 2023-01-22 -
Best strategies to learn what the real culture and work life balance is at a company.
By: StazyPosted on 2023-01-22 -
How best can you move to a new career path ?
By: OGHENETEGA, Sales ExecutivePosted on 2023-01-22 -
IC can be leaders too. How to make sure you are getting promoted even as an IC?
By: Gloria, Product StrategyPosted on 2023-01-22 -
What questions to ask the hiring manager that can make an impact?
By: Shrija, Quality Assurance EngineerPosted on 2023-01-22 -
I think my contribution can be more impactful as a leader, but how do you pivot from individual contributor to presenting yourself as leader who facilitates individual and team growth?
By: Ara, Technology Specialist Recruiting OperationsPosted on 2023-01-22 -
I think I make a better IC, but I’m having trouble reconciling that with the general idea of career goals, and also how to encourage management to reward ICs appropriately (ie one shouldn’t have...
By: EricaPosted on 2023-01-22 -
I want to move overseas. How do I transition my current skills into a new career field?
By: Alianna, Officer ManagerPosted on 2023-01-22 -
I’m undecided on what I want to do within my career
By: JenniPosted on 2023-01-22 -
What are some of the ways we can showcase our marketable skills as an IC on the social media?
By: Osama, E-Commerce ManagerPosted on 2023-01-22 -
The term “multi-functional” leadership gets thrown around a lot these days. Unofficially, I fall into this bucket, though I’m considered an IC. How do I assess if this should be leveraged into a...
By: Eva, User experiencePosted on 2023-01-22 -
How can I best display my skills on LinkedIn to attract recruiters, and show up more in searches?
By: IsabellaPosted on 2023-01-22 -
How to scale up the career in IT business?
By: MarijaPosted on 2023-01-22 -
Will you be providing a list of commonly seeked out skills? Thank you.
By: IdilPosted on 2023-01-22 -
When is African going to enjoy good leadership at all levels of human endeavors?
By: OlusegunPosted on 2023-01-20 -
How to create a winning team
By: A KPosted on 2023-01-20 -
How do I boost my confidence level in a distance cultural environment.
By: Titus OlatunbosunPosted on 2023-01-20 -
I was in an IC role and thinking it's time to move to leadership roles. How do I transition given that I was among 10k people laid off and looking for a new opportunity?
By: Parimala, Technical Program/Project ManagerPosted on 2023-01-19 -
If the passion is related to new technologies, and those technologies are changing faster than we can learn, how this can create sustainable job. Sooner or later, we have our skills outdated and...
By: EvaPosted on 2023-01-19 -
How do you prepare for the change moving from an IC to Leader?
By: Anita, Big Data Data ScientistPosted on 2023-01-19 -
How do you gain the experience/skill level to break into the next phase of your career?
By: Jeannette, Histology TechnicianPosted on 2023-01-19 -
I would like to be a leader to help more POC people have opportunities, however I love the freedom of being an IC, I like to travel often. How can I help others gain access to technology jobs by...
By: AminahPosted on 2023-01-19 -
How do you deal with gaps in your skill when you are in a leadership / management position?
By: Yachen, Software EngineerPosted on 2023-01-19 -
This sounds like an interesting topic. I am curious how you recommend to begin this exploration. Do you think this could be broken down even more, by asking, am I better suited to be a leader in a...
By: Karen, Software TesterPosted on 2023-01-19 -
How to evaluate what opportunity is more worthy when looking for upskilling, scaling and make money? ex. going back to school for 2 years vs doing a 3-month bootcamp.
By: Leslie, Software TesterPosted on 2023-01-19 -
How do I communicate that I am leadership material on my resume when all my leadership experience is informal and none of my job titles indicate that I have functioned as a leader in earlier roles?
By: Rebecca, ConsultantPosted on 2023-01-19 -
How is the job market now? What can I do as candidate to find a job as a Data Scientist? What skills will make me the most marketable?
By: Jayashri, Big Data Data ScientistPosted on 2023-01-19 -
Nothing right this moment
By: Ana, QA ManagerPosted on 2023-01-19 -
what if some of your strengths are good EQ, connecting people and having transparent discussions but you still don't want to lead? how can you harness those strengths in a non-leader role without...
By: Tara, VP of WholesalePosted on 2023-01-19 -
What if I've not found anything that I'm really passionate about?
By: Margaret, Computer OperatorPosted on 2023-01-19 -
How do you continue to progress your career and earning potential if you don't want to go into management?
By: Jernell, Business AnalystPosted on 2023-01-19 -
I don’t have a specific questi
By: Georgann, Department CoordinatorPosted on 2023-01-19 -
Did you always have a strong feeling that people management was for you, or was it more of a 'maybe this could be for me', type of feeling that you leaned into?
By: TraceyPosted on 2023-01-19 -
What are the key ingredients to help you drive your passion?
By: NickPosted on 2023-01-19 -
no questions at the moment. thank you.
By: RitaPosted on 2023-01-19 -
How do you identify the signs that it is time to move into leadership?
By: NataliePosted on 2023-01-19 -
How do you handle the interview question of not having enough management experience?
By: Tonima, Sales ManagerPosted on 2023-01-19 -
One of the common questions that I hear from people trying to weigh a transition to a management role is, "How can I predict whether I will enjoy a management role more than an individual...
By: Jodi, Engineering ManagerPosted on 2023-01-19 -
What certifications are required?
By: FilippoPosted on 2023-01-19 -
How do I honor my passion for helping others? I am always commended for great customer service but I want to do more in my career.
By: Janetta, Customer service representativePosted on 2023-01-19 -
What are some leadership books for continued growth?
By: Hilarie, Software Engineer ManagerPosted on 2023-01-19 -
I have no questions at this time.
By: Kay, Sales ManagerPosted on 2023-01-19 -
Is it possible to perform a carrier switch from IC in a company to leader in an other (because in the belonging company there are no growing opportunities) without any experience in leadership?...
By: Diana, Fullstack DeveloperPosted on 2023-01-19 -
What resources do you use to help assess your skills and experience?
By: KetemaPosted on 2023-01-19 -
what is the best way to tell your story?
By: Amin, Product ManagementPosted on 2023-01-19 -
How do you negotiate salary when being promoted to the management level?
By: Jamie, Web DesignerPosted on 2023-01-19 -
What has been you biggest challenge in your career?
By: Luana, Head ReceptionistPosted on 2023-01-18
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