Erik believes the move toward individual-contributor roles predates generative AI and has been accelerated by AI.

“I think that shift actually started even before GenAI, but I do think it's, like, heavily accelerated with AI. Like, you know, we, we, we make it very clear to everyone at Modal that, like, manager or IC, it's like there's no difference in prestige. Like, everyone is just a member of technical staff.”