This is my experience as well. I no longer interview for things, I interview people who want to hire me. At this point in my career, as an engineering IC, my initial conversations are with the VP/GMs of business units.
Younger me would have been very surprised how much i actually enjoy these conversations with manager types. In my experience, _most_ of the VP GM and CEO types are much broader and more interesting than most engineers tend to believe, at least younger me.
Above a certain level of expertise, ICs are far harder to hire than management-like positions.
This is definitely surprising to younger ICs in the industry - who seem to want to become engineering managers any way they can.
The ceiling of genius you can possibly spike to as an engineer is far higher. I’ve seen single engineers at smaller startups perform the work of entire teams at big companies. And these folks get paid maybe 3x-4x the standard engineer salary. Huge savings. But hard to hire these folks.
LASR, you seem to be shadowbanned, but your history doesn’t show anything weird. I vouched for this post to make it visible to everyone, but I don’t know if vouching lifts the shadowban entirely or just makes visible this particular post. You might want to reach out to dang just in case to figure this out.
I am at the same point in my career. I don't interview. I have a conversation with the person who wants to hire me. I've had two formal job interviews in the past 14 years, both at a FANG. Did not enjoy the interview experience at all. Got offers for both, and turned down both offers.
Younger me would have been very surprised how much i actually enjoy these conversations with manager types. In my experience, _most_ of the VP GM and CEO types are much broader and more interesting than most engineers tend to believe, at least younger me.