Yes, ICs are generally g7+ and when I look at who went in our department there was a strange lack of managers on the hit list. Plenty of ICs / Senior Engineers. Could it be that the managers protected the other managers and threw the workers to the wolves?
Recently (last 3 years or so) there has been a lot of talk where I work about the technical path to success... Those that chose this path have been more than decimated....
I'm posting this as a warning for anyone else out there that wants a high ranked technical post. It means at focal time you are up against the very managers that scheme and decide who gets the chop.. Therefore you have no chance as the managers will always suck and protect the other managers.
After all the cuts have been done, department managers are going to be wondering what happened that they have a bunch of managers but no experienced staff but by then it will be too late...
I, myself with 15+ years experience of intel expect to get ISP as I will decline the current VSP round.