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individual contributor (aka someone judged on their own work output, not the output of a team like a manager or director)

I first read it as Integrated chip, lol.

Integrated circuit?

https://blog.mitchjlee.com/2020/your-writing-style-is-costly

My bad. You’re right, and thanks for the link. Unfortunately the window for editing is closed.

It's okay to use a non-standard abbreviation if you spell it out the first time it's used followed by the abbreviation in parentheses, like "individual contributor (IC)", and then use the abbreviation in the rest of the text.

Individual contributor.