Usually it means you have to manage people but you have no real input on their career trajectory, and in the worst case, if they need to be fired you do not have the power to do so.
This was my experience in a TLM role - you have to manage down to your ICs but you have little lateral or upward power. You're basically just conveying whatever your manager decides to do with your team, but with all the additional responsibilities of a staff engineer.
In big FAANG-style workplaces, I don't think that middle managers without the TL- prefix have the kind of influence or leverage you're talking about here. It changes at VP level, but ultimately, most of the corporate management hierarchy is just spreadsheet misery.
I would suggest maybe step back and think about a point in your career where you really felt challenged and inspired. I've definitely had periods where I felt similar, but was generally because I was just bored and didn't feel any connection to the work I was doing. So many of us attach so much of our identities to the work we do. And if the work we do isn't meaningful then we end up in thought processes like yours.
The fact that you are really looking inward and thinking about this is super positive by the way, because without that things will never change.
Think about what it is you really want to achieve and find a job that gives you a sense of ownership and pride.
Those three are great for relaxing after a long day
FTL: Faster Than Light
Zachtronics games (TIS-100, Shenzhen I/O, Exapunks)
FEZ
Portal / Portal 2
XCOM
Deus Ex (Super old but quite good, I started it recently. I had best results in Proton selecting the software renderer in the first launch dialog instead of DX9)
Grand Theft Auto
Assassins Creed IV (I had trouble running this under Proton though, had to use Windows)
Planetside 2 is MMO but you can play singleplayer. Windows only unfortunately, but there's nothing else like it.
> Deus Ex (Super old but quite good, I started it recently. I had best results in Proton selecting the software renderer in the first launch dialog instead of DX9)
I recommend Deus Exe [0] for playing Deus Ex. And yes, it's still an awesome game.
It's no mystery what's wrong with Equifax to those who have accounts with all three bureaus. Two seconds inside the site will tip you off; hint, it's much higher level than choice of hosting platform. CoreOS is certainly trying to get on the radar here for when the other shoe drops and Equifax starts spending serious money on this stuff. The whole thing seems a bit tone deaf in timing though.
