Your post reads like:

“I know there are a million tools out there for animations but they either too limited, too difficult for me to learn or too expensive. This sucks!!”

Are you thinking there’s a ultra capable, cheap, easy to use product out there you haven’t discovered yet and you’re hoping someone here will tell you about it?

Sounds like you need to spend some time learning React.

Is the name you want already taken? Just add “ly” to the end!

How much money does it take to build a house?

Good context! I totally forgot about layervault. Seems like so long ago.

I keep wandering back here because of how bad I want it to be good. There’s always design Twitter I guess.

I agree with Steve that at least within the Product Designer archetype, this is expected to be the same person.

This is great feedback and agree with your sentiments around being able to show and prove that you are good at solving problems with digital products.

To the OP: everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and I recommend taking inventory of that so you know what areas you need to shore up. The most successful designers I’ve observed have high self awareness.

In your post you said “I have the skills and experience” but I would be thinking about what skills and experience you don’t have yet that may help you tell a compelling story about what kind of a designer you are. Visual design, design thinking, prototyping, motion design, written communication, product strategy, data orientation, are all dimensions you should be thinking about as a UX/Product Designer. Google hires T-shaped designers, many other top tier companies value generalists.

Are you consistently learning new things and working outside of your comfort zone? If not, your career may start to become a reflection of that.

"On WhatsApp, when you try to delete your message for everyone, it only hides the content and presents both sides with a note “This message was deleted. Therefore, the other side gets aware of the existence of such a message anyway. It is not deleting, but hiding the content, to be honest."

You really think WhatsApp didn't think this one through? What's the suggested alternative? Very curious!

Damn love how well-tuned the scroll behavior is and how it always seems to settle into the correct keyframes. The motion is so fluid too.

I can identify with this being at startups for most of my career. When I made the move to a large organization, I was shocked to learn that there was a long advancement path for those that wanted to stay on the IC track. I think this is probably unique to larger companies, like you said, but maybe this is something you could give more thought and be open to.

Other than that you have agency work (not for everyone) consulting, or maybe starting your own lean product/service that you run yourself. If you envision yourself working on a larger team, it sounds like you don't see a path before you at your current company.

You've done a good job in this post articulating the career path you're looking for, and if you want to be an IC long term (I'm this way), you should find a company that supports that. They are out there!

Down votes were live for months on DN, but removed after people abused them.