It's okay to stay where you are.
Original title was: "It's okay to just be an individual contributor"
We often get an engrained sense that we must always evolve in our careers. Must get the next engineering level, or must chase the next salary bump, or must climb the ladder into management.
It's exhausting at times.
It's also not necessarily the best move for everyone.
Not everyone has the same ambitions.
More importantly, it's okay to just do one thing well in your job. It's okay to "just" be good at the core work rather than wanting to become a manager of it.
This includes even not wanting to move up the "staff" ladder to becoming an IC with more responsibilities.
I used to look down on my peers who I didn't consider ambitious enough, but I understand them now.