Be open to management as well as keeping the tech skills. The management - and more broadly people skills - are acquired just like tech skills are, and just li

Be open to management as well as keeping the tech skills. The management - and more broadly people skills - are acquired just like tech skills are, and just like tech skills some learn them faster or slower than others. Just like tech skills these are valued to companies. But one needs to mix, I think. So people management skills + tech == tech manager. Sales + tech = well, sales, or pre-sales. Or consulting if it's more tech than sales. Design / project management skills + tech == product manager. If you're an absolute SME, then you can be a tech lead, an architect, and so forth, but you really need to stand out. The above are purely my career observations, and are subject to disagreement on semantics, the spirit or the letter of what I'm saying, and such. I don't claim absolute truth. My other observation, though: people in their 20's have hotter skills than people with white hair who had to re-tool their skillset. And re-tooling every few years sucks in my opinion. Again, my opinion. I hate working on personal tech projects or studying on the side outside of work just to keep my head above water. I'd rather go hiking, or to the bar.