There are many ways to be an IC. You could just write code all day with minimal interaction with the rest of the team. But you can also mentor your teammates or

There are many ways to be an IC. You could just write code all day with minimal interaction with the rest of the team. But you can also mentor your teammates or be a technical lead for a component or entire project, even without becoming a manager with direct reports. In general I don’t think there is anything wrong with “peaking” at a point in your career where you feel fulfilled without feeling pressured to always take on more responsibility and stress. If you want to lead projects or manage people, go ahead. If you just want to write code, that’s fine too. Of course depending on the company your compensation might top out after a certain point, which you may or may not be happy with. But at least in the bigger FAANG-type companies, you can go pretty far as a “tech lead” style of IC, without directly managing people.