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Yes, I would say this is normal and OK as you gain more expertise in your craft. Anecdotally, I have moved twice from higher engineering management roles (VP /

by jdoss 5y ago

Yes, I would say this is normal and OK as you gain more expertise in your craft. Anecdotally, I have moved twice from higher engineering management roles (VP / Director) to Senior / Principal level IC roles and I am a bit older than you. It does take a bit of work to find the right IC position to shift into at the right company when you are ~recovering~ moving from management/architect roles. I feel it is very helpful to be up front right away when you interview and express that you want to be more in the trenches with hands on coding. There are a lot of companies that want IC developers to have architect-like "spacial awareness" experience on their engineering teams. It's a valuable skill. Lean into it.

heisenbit 5y ago
Switched twice myself from multi year management to technical roles. If one looks at careers over decades (and the industrial transformation that happen over that time) it can be tough to stay in managerial roles without selling your soul. There are a lot of contradictions and one has to come to terms with what fits to ones values. The market prefers specialists but generalists often tend to get more stuff done and thrive once inside an organisation. In higher technical roles management skills are often key. Likewise in management roles being grounded in hard facts can be a plus. None of the HR advertised "career paths" help here much as one learns best by doing very hard for real - technical as well as managerial. Switching is hard and takes time but on the other hand one learns a lot. Nothings free. Managerial skills age better so recovering (jdoss stressed that word for a reason) from a technical doing break does require some planning and having the right environment around one. It also requires having reached real depth in coding, design and architecture beforehand. Part of my job currently requires me to do some training and coaching and I find that really satisfying helping me to recover technical skills and have a positive long term impact on people.

by jdoss 5y ago

heisenbit 5y ago

Switched twice myself from multi year management to technical roles. If one looks at careers over decades (and the industrial transformation that happen over that time) it can be tough to stay in managerial roles without selling your soul. There are a lot of contradictions and one has to come to terms with what fits to ones values. The market prefers specialists but generalists often tend to get more stuff done and thrive once inside an organisation. In higher technical roles management skills are often key. Likewise in management roles being grounded in hard facts can be a plus. None of the HR advertised "career paths" help here much as one learns best by doing very hard for real - technical as well as managerial. Switching is hard and takes time but on the other hand one learns a lot. Nothings free. Managerial skills age better so recovering (jdoss stressed that word for a reason) from a technical doing break does require some planning and having the right environment around one. It also requires having reached real depth in coding, design and architecture beforehand. Part of my job currently requires me to do some training and coaching and I find that really satisfying helping me to recover technical skills and have a positive long term impact on people.