I'm a senior technical IC (have a phd in tech along with many years of exp) who moved to management about 2 years back. I am having very mixed feelings on being on the other side. Being a manager is a lot harder than I expected. It feels like wading in slush all day long and I don't really get a sense of accomplishment (as an IC, I could take credit for what I did; as a mgr, I definitely add value and am a force multiplier to the team .. be it in setting direction, utilizing learnings from all my old experiences .. it just doesn't feel the same in terms of pride in technical achievement .. i.e. my coding days are over). I am also completely clueless how to switch jobs as a manager. Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
> I am also completely clueless how to switch jobs as a manager. Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
I share my own (humble) insights right here, its a huge topic but I post regularly, you might find some of those posts helpful: https://techleader.pro/
> it just doesn't feel the same in terms of pride in technical achievement .. i.e. my coding days are over
Same for me, I had to learn to take pride in building successful teams and individuals, and not code anymore.
As an ex-engineer, the key "eureka!" moment I had was when I realized that management != leadership, and leadership > management. After that, I started to study "leadership" as a formal topic, everyone from Marcus Aurelius to Steve Jobs, as if I was learning a new programming language for example.
The combination of technical chops + great people leadership skills is very rare, if you nail that many opportunities will open up for you during your career.
Is there a network of managers in your company you could sync with? If you consider switching companies or even career paths you might be at a point where learning might be more important than keeping (secret sauce type) leverage or saving face.
How much time do you spend on helping your team members grow? It takes a long time (years not weeks), but this can be very rewarding!
