In this article, we theorize the disciplinary lifecycle as an alternative to the limited metaphor of the "career arc." We argue that theorizing career trajectories as lifecycles resonates more fully with the experiences that are common to careers in rhetoric, composition, and writing studies (RCWS), thereby providing more possibilities for individuals to recognize and enact their disciplinary development across varying environments and in different phases of their careers. Further, we call for the field to better acknowledge the changing environments for disciplinary work by making visible typified but underrepresented phases in our scholarship and career development discourse.