Upvoted because i had the same experience. Prior to going full time contracting i was a team lead, dev manager and finally head of. At first it was frustrating

Upvoted because i had the same experience. Prior to going full time contracting i was a team lead, dev manager and finally head of. At first it was frustrating because i had to constantly walk a thin line in keeping people happy. Had devs snapping at me because of the pressure, business people going crazy at the slightest slippage, and so on. Then it clicked. Its all about people. They all want to shine and the question is how do you help them do so. Be it through process, motivational talk, etc. After a while i started loving it. I tried to make sure everyone understands i heard them and i somehow learned to enjoy genuinely helping devs in my team - even after they left. I also made sure that with the aid of metrics management understood that if you want more then you need more people. If they just failed to understand i left too as i didnt want to be a supervisor type cracking the whip. I build mafias not assembly lines. But give it some time as managing people (and equally important, managing your own time and knowing how to balance resources) is crucial to starting your own gig. And it can really be fun and rewarding. Eventually i went into contracting, precisely so that i can “solo developing something”. I would be happy making a nice little piece of app (currently working on a game), that i can prune here and there and grow a community of users that i can genuinely make happy, and get paid for it. I simply _love_ seeing happy users.