Comment by gloryless

I have been this person and I'm trying to move away from it. It really is a great skill to enjoy lifting others and to be the glue of a team. But there are multiple slippery slopes inherent to that role that make it difficult. You can begin to confound the knowledge of others as your own, and almost certainly your own IC skills will atrophy if not purposefully maintained. I think it also requires the explicit buy in of the team, or at least other seniors who understand the benefits and can help keep balance.

It just takes one jealous colleague or one "efficiency minded" manager type to completely rug pull you. I know it's valuable because I have benefitted from that person many many times, but it takes empathy and a lot of balance.