It's called the Technical Ghetto. The basic problem is technical folks who are too good at being technical to be allowed to do any management or less technical

It's called the Technical Ghetto. The basic problem is technical folks who are too good at being technical to be allowed to do any management or less technical stuff. I've seen it time and time again in my career. I've discussed it at length with colleagues and peers. I've seen very few people escape it. Only once have I seen someone escape it without moving jobs (new company, not in-company). And that one time was due to a succession crisis which meant the person in question had to be promoted into a more senior management role. The absolute classic was a guy I worked with at a major international telco. He was promoted into country CEO role. 3 months later and he was moved to be CTO in another country because they couldn't find anyone else competent to take the CTO role during a major rollout. He called me a couple of years later - he is now CEO of his own SAAS business, and very successful.