IC or PM — Work data 2026 | Stack Overflow Developer Survey

81% identify as individual contributors, including 30% senior/staff ICs. Only 3% are exclusively people managers.

Social (.png) Vector (.svg)

Question

Are you an individual contributor or people manager?

single select
Optional
v2026.1

Data

	Respondents	Percent
Individual contributor	12,568	50.8%
Individual contributor in a senior or staff-level role	7,517	30.4%
Both people manager and individual contributor	3,828	15.5%
People manager	836	3.4%

Use this data

Citation

Response data is released under the ODbL 1.0, which asks that you attribute it.

Stack Exchange Inc. (2026). “IC or PM”. Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026. Licensed under ODbL 1.0. https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/work/data/i-cor-pm

JSON

Structured for code, with the question, the year and the source url alongside the numbers.

{
  "question": "IC or PM",
  "dataId": "ICorPM",
  "asked": "Are you an individual contributor or people manager?",
  "year": "2026",
  "url": "https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/work/data/i-cor-pm",
  "demographic": {
    "id": "all-respondents",
    "type": "all",
    "name": "All Respondents",
    "n": 24749,
    "share": null
  },
  "series": null,
  "columns": [
    {
      "key": "response",
      "header": "IC or PM",
      "unit": "",
      "numeric": false
    },
    {
      "key": "count",
      "header": "Respondents",
      "unit": "",
      "numeric": true
    },
    {
      "key": "pct",
      "header": "Percent",
      "unit": "%",
      "numeric": true
    }
  ],
  "licence": {
    "name": "ODbL 1.0",
    "url": "https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/",
    "holder": "Stack Exchange Inc."
  },
  "source": "Stack Overflow Developer Survey",
  "data": [
    {
      "response": "Individual contributor",
      "count": 12568,
      "pct": 0.508
    },
    {
      "response": "Individual contributor in a senior or staff-level role",
      "count": 7517,
      "pct": 0.304
    },
    {
      "response": "Both people manager and individual contributor",
      "count": 3828,
      "pct": 0.155
    },
    {
      "response": "People manager",
      "count": 836,
      "pct": 0.034
    }
  ]
}

Markdown

A formatted table, ready to paste into a document, an issue or a prompt.

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Individual contributor | 12,568 | 50.8% |
| Individual contributor in a senior or staff-level role | 7,517 | 30.4% |
| Both people manager and individual contributor | 3,828 | 15.5% |
| People manager | 836 | 3.4% |

Spreadsheet

.csv is a plain text format which most spreadsheet software can open.