Put an end to being the “go-to” engineer 

Estimated reading time: 21 minutes

Protecting your energy as an IC may feel uncomfortable, but it’s necessary. 

In every engineering org, there will almost certainly be one stand-out team member that everyone knows as the “go-to engineer.” They turn to this person when something fails, when there is a lack of information, or when decisions feel uncertain. There is nothing wrong with being the “go-to engineer.” In fact, earning this designation means you are reliable and experienced. But being the one who always has the answer comes with underlying costs, and, over time, the consistent burden of being the go-to engineer leads to burnout.

The good news is that there are ample ways that senior individual contributors can protect their energy while remaining productive, and how managers can support their engineers by providing resources to help them achieve productivity and well-being.

Being the go-to engineer is a double-edged sword

Being the “go-to” engineer is a recognized honor within an engineering organization. At a minimum, you have demonstrated reliability, technical knowledge and ability, and calmness in stressful situations. 

However, reliability may eventually develop into dependence. Your reputation as a go-to engineer puts a spotlight on your availability to address every issue and can lead to: 

• Constant interruptions: Each interruption affects your ability to focus. Your time is spent switching contexts repeatedly throughout the day due to requests for assistance and “quick questions,” leaving no room to complete meaningful work. 
• Emotional load: Your mental health is affected as you take on the confidence of the rest of the team. You are not only fixing problems, but you are also reassuring other engineers, unblocking others’ paths, and taking on their stress.
• Blurred boundaries: Your daily schedule extends beyond normal working hours to assist others and respond to messages, and you may skip breaks to complete one additional task.

The cumulative effect of these actions is an engineer who continues to perform above expectations, resolving incidents, answering questions, and keeping things moving while more and more work quietly depends on their availability. As knowledge and decisions funnel through one person, progress slows around their schedule, turning a reliable engineer into an unintentional bottleneck. From the outside, everything looks fine; internally, they are carrying an unsustainable load and moving closer to burnout.

Why organizations rely on the same “go-to” engineers

Engineers do not typically choose to be the “go-to” engineers. Instead, the practice emerges slowly through: 

• Knowledge silos: Organizations fail to prioritize documentation, and the tribal knowledge remains within the head of the engineer. Newer engineers lack a clear resource to obtain the necessary information and so fall on the go-to person.
• Uncertainty regarding ownership: If the organization does not clearly define which engineer or team member owns a specific system or decision, engineers will rely on the engineer who “knows it.”
• Hero culture: Organizations praise the engineer who saves the day rather than the processes and improvements that prevent future fires.
• Dependency loop: The more you assist your colleagues, the more they will ask for your assistance. Eventually, this creates an organizational structure that depends on the go-to engineer.

Managers need to be aware of the risks associated with relying on a few engineers. They create fragility in the team, as once someone is spread too thin, their work starts to lose its distinction. 

How to set the right boundaries as a go-to engineer

Boundary setting is not equivalent to withdrawal. The intent of boundary setting is not to be less available to colleagues, but to be intentionally available in ways that allow you to utilize your knowledge to benefit others without compromising your energy.

Here are some ways to achieve that.

Write documentation as a form of protection

Writing documentation is not a waste of time – it allows you to save your time in the future. Begin with the top questions you are asked and convert those answers into simple guidelines or FAQs. For each piece of documentation you write, you will eliminate dozens of minor interruptions in the future.

Establish clear communication rules

Establish office hours or designated support windows by making your availability explicit. This can be as simple as blocking time on your calendar, setting a recurring Slack status, or sharing a short note with your team about when you’re open for questions. Create a channel for asynchronous questions to be asked via Slack threads or documentation, reducing the number of interruptive messages you receive. The use of these channels will teach other engineers to be more independent.

Using intentional yeses

Before agreeing to assist someone with a “quick review,” stop and evaluate three options:

• Say yes – If the item requires your expertise.
• Redirect – If the work doesn’t require your direct involvement, help the person move forward by pointing them to documentation, prior examples, or the appropriate owner.
  Example: “I’m not the best person to review this, but the API guide covers this case, and Alex owns that part of the system.”
• Let go – If the request isn’t aligned with your current priorities or focus areas, it’s okay to politely decline.
  Example: “I don’t have the bandwidth to take this on right now, but let’s flag it for the next planning cycle or bring it up with the team.”

It can be difficult to break the habit of saying yes, so at the end of every day, think about;

• Did I say yes today based on routine or intention?
• Did I spend today doing work only I can do?
• What frequently asked question can I document once and never answer again?
• Who can I mentor this month to ensure I am not the only person who knows the details of this system?
• Have I clearly communicated when I am available and when I am unavailable?

By making this process a regular, intentional reflection exercise, you will protect your bandwidth while still demonstrating your reliability.

Changing definitions of success

As engineers reach higher levels of seniority, definitions of success evolve. It is no longer measured by writing the most lines of code or by responding to every query. 

Rather than responding to every question individually, train other engineers to identify answers for themselves. Invite a junior engineer to observe you while troubleshooting a difficult bug. Next time, have them lead the troubleshooting. 

When you transition from “answering everything” to “enabling others to answer,” you will actually expand your influence. Team members will appreciate the systems you have developed – the clarity, the shared ownership, and the collective calm in the face of uncertainty that now exists without needing you to be present.

This is how senior ICs build sustainable, impactful careers. You are no longer a single point of failure – you are now a multiplier.

Supporting “go-to” engineers as managers

It is unfair to expect ICs to manage their own time and prioritize their own energy. Managers have a critical role to play in creating environments that respect boundaries and foster deep work.

Here are some practical ways managers can support their engineers:

Honor focus time 

Schedule blocks for deep work into calendars. Protect those blocks from team planning and meetings. Modeling this behavior encourages engineers to understand that uninterrupted time is not a privilege – it is essential to producing quality engineering work. Make sure to regularly reflect on how well you’re protecting your reports’ time to avoid things slipping through the cracks. 

Balance visibility and dependency

Publicly recognize the engineers who are the “go-to” for their contributions. Also, recognize those who step up and contribute positively. 

Highlighting distributed ownership will help to shift the narrative from “Alex is the only one who can fix this” to “our team is capable of handling whatever challenges come our way.”

Develop systems that scale knowledge

Promote pairing, service rotation, and shared documentation processes. Spend time developing training materials that reduce the pressure on one person to know everything.

Protect boundaries during one-on-ones

If an engineer is consistently interrupted, recognize it as an operational challenge, not a personal failure. During your 1:1s with the engineer, discuss their workload, their frustration with context switching, and potential delegation or automation of repetitive tasks.

Reward sustainable impact

Recognize engineers who prevent fires – through mentorship, system design, or process improvements. Sustainable performance should be as visible as heroic effort.

When managers and engineers collaborate to achieve sustainability in their respective roles, both parties gain; engineers remain energized, and teams become more resilient.

Scale trust, not just output 

Being called the “go-to” engineer is a compliment and, at the same time, an indicator that your workplace culture has developed without boundaries or processes, which may ultimately erode the very energy that made you so successful.

IC’s value lies in creating the culture, documentation, and mentoring that allows other engineers to feel confident enough to act without you. Managers have the duty to support this balance by protecting their teams’ ability to concentrate on work, celebrating sustainable outcomes, and helping all members of the team develop into “go-to” engineers, rather than one member alone.

When both parties are responsible for reliability, it ceases to be less burdensome and instead will be able to provide the foundation for long-lasting, scalable trust.

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