Rise of Super IC
The Old Data Playbook Is Dead. It’s Time for the Super IC.
When I took over data at Opendoor 3 years ago, I walked into a classic problem: a lot of smart, junior people spread way too thin. Everyone was solving the same problems in their own little corners. It was organized chaos, with duplicated work and no single source of truth.
My first move wasn’t to hire more people. It was to hire different people. I stopped hiring pods of junior analysts and instead brought on senior IC’s for each major business area. We centralized the team but kept them embedded in the business. The signal instantly got clearer than the noise. We went from fighting fires to shaping strategy.
Fast forward to now: Hiring senior IC’s isn’t enough. We are in the Super IC era.
Forget 10x. We’re in the 100x Era Now.
We used to get excited about the mythical “10x engineer.” That’s ancient history. In 2025, with AI in everyone’s toolkit, the best people aren’t 10x. They’re 100x. One great data scientist can now do the work of an entire team.
The gap between an average contributor and a superstar has become a canyon. This isn’t just about being a faster coder. It’s about strategic thinking. It’s the difference between someone who can answer your question, and someone who tells you the question you should be asking.
Stop Taking Orders, Start Driving Outcomes.
This is why the old “service desk” model for data teams is so broken. If your team is just sitting around waiting for tickets, you’ve already lost. You’re a support function, not an engine for growth.
I pushed my team at Opendoor to think like product owners. Find the problem, build the solution, own the outcome. Don’t just deliver a report; build a data product that makes the report unnecessary. If you’re an IC, your job is to be proactive. Find the opportunity before your manager even knows it exists.
Your Best Ideas Now Have an Expiration Date.
Here’s another hard truth: speed is everything. With AI, that brilliant insight you have today could be an automated feature for your competitor next quarter. You can’t afford to wait for permission or polish a proposal for weeks.
Build the ugly prototype. Get it in front of people. Show, don’t just tell. A good idea launched this week is infinitely better than a perfect one you’re still planning next year.
What to Do If You’re Not at a FAANG Company
Of course, this has created a crazy talent war. You see headlines about multi-million dollar packages for AI researchers, and it’s not just hype. One person really can change the game, and companies are paying for it.
So what can you do if you’re at a more traditional company? Act like a super IC anyway.
Be a self-starter. Don’t wait for permission to fix something that’s broken.
Make AI your superpower. Automate the boring stuff so you can focus on what matters.
Think like the business. Connect every line of code to a customer problem or a dollar sign.
Learn out loud. Share what you’re working on online or internally. You’ll be surprised who’s listening.
For leaders, the job is to find these people, pay them what they’re worth (and yes you may have to battle with your CFO about this!), and give them the two things they crave most: autonomy and interesting problems to solve.
Ultimately, this isn’t about humans vs. AI. It’s about a new kind of team: talented people using incredibly powerful tools. The future isn’t scary; it’s an upgrade. Don’t be afraid of the super IC. Figure out how to become one.
(Note: written with the help of AI tools for editing)