I think there is a natural tendency for developers over time to evolve from being contributors to being leaders. Leadership may not carry a management title. A

I think there is a natural tendency for developers over time to evolve from being contributors to being leaders. Leadership may not carry a management title. A leader may simply be a senior person who does the following: 1) Knows and understands the system at a deep level, including many of the historical decisions that took place. 2) Guides and reviews the work of the less experienced developers who come on board. 3) Is relied upon by upper level management to make sure work is scoped appropriately and technical roadblocks are handled before they become a problem. 4) Can design and architect new features that have achievable goals because you have the right context to know how to implement them in your current work environment with all its given constraints. I think being a developer and staying technical through out your career means at some point you have to be comfortable with the above responsibilities. Maybe it will be at a company you stuck with, or maybe it will be a company you started.