As you grow in your career, you have the privilege of delegating execution. But you are still responsible for driving the outcome. You can’t blame others if things go wrong. So your calendar becomes more free, but you are on slack all the time, even during holidays and weekends.

True story: In the first 3 years of my career, I used to travel during my holidays with my data pack turned off. If I felt like I would just extend my leave. I didn’t even have Whatsapp. I finally installed Whatsapp when I joined Gojek as there were a lot of office groups still there.

I have not had a true vacation since I joined Gojek. Have been to my hometown once every year. Same with my inlaws for the last couple of years. But even during these mini breaks I have not been able to switch off. I ended up spending all my time on Slack responding to messages.

I came back to work 2 days after my marriage because we had to plan our OKRs. I have ~2 months worth of leaves left on my workday. Since we don’t have an encashment policy, all of them will lapse.

This is the tradeoff between being an IC and a manager. Choose carefully.