For me, it was a default choice: it was the only career path that didn’t suck (the alternative was to become an expert which, in that company at that time, mean

For me, it was a default choice: it was the only career path that didn’t suck (the alternative was to become an expert which, in that company at that time, meant plateauing after a few years). So it took me a while to become a competent manager, and to start enjoying it. All this to say that if you want to become a manager only for the added responsibilities / perks / title, chances are you’ll be a lousy one. To enjoy being a manager (and be a decent one rather than a PHB), you need to care about people. In your case, enjoying mentoring junior devs is obviously a good start; try to extrapolate that to how you would coach on non-technical topics (people skills, career choices, giving negative feedback, etc. ). Another good point is the relationship with stakeholders. Just keep in mind that as a manager, you often get the shit part of the relationship: you break the bad news and cover your team, but you let your team get the credits for the good stuff. On the other hand, I would advise you to forget about coding: even if you can keep writing some code, it is absolutely not your job as a manager. You also need to consider the impact on the rest of your team, especially if you’re not the most competent developer in the team. (Imagine being the coach of a sports team and putting yourself in the lineup to play every game)