this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2023
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Yay, something I can talk to.
I'm a middle manager in tech delivery. Started in a different industry, moved into the saas world at the right time, became a dev, became a contractor, made lots of money, had a family, needed more regular hours so went the management route, less money, more stress. About a year ago I took on a new role which has me across approx 10 directs each who have their own squads of 6 to 10 people.
I don't hate it but it is hard work. And yes it is objectively harder and more stressful than being a developer, simply because of the level of accountability that I personally take.
In terms of expertise. I know a deep amount about one platform, a moderate amount about three others and I have no fucking clue about the rest. Integration, for instance. Yet I'm accountable for delivery and eye watering budgets. I'm sure the devs have a similar opinion of me as to what's posted elsewhere in the thread, that I don't understand the specific technology hence shouldn't be directing the work stream, but the thing is - thats not the role.
The role is to manage money and people. The array of brilliant technologists who i've seen step into leadership roles then slowly drown and fail is distressing. So when I'm looking for leads to bring into positions, a lot of the time I'm looking for people who naturally want to step forward and want to lead. Most of the time they do well even without the full depth of tech.
I think this is the link back to your question. Like, can you go back to being a dev? If your promotion to management was as a result of being the most experienced dev, then yes absolutely, you should fit back in fine. If you were promoted because you were the voice in the team that said why or how or what if or let's do this, then I'm sorry. Leadership will seek you out once again.