The truth about being a manager
Transitioning from individual contributor to manager means less technical work and more people responsibilities, difficult conversations, and organizational politics. The role requires a different skill set and can be both rewarding and isolating.
Background
- This is a first-person essay from a senior software engineer at a Dutch bank who moved into engineering management and then returned to an individual contributor (IC) role.
- The author compares management vs IC work: management is about people, context-switching, and organizational politics; IC work is about flow state, deep focus, and technical problem-solving.
- Key tension: managers are judged by their team's output, not their own, and much of their day is spent in meetings, unblocking others, and translating between business and engineering — leaving little time for coding.
- The post reflects a common pattern in tech: mid-career engineers are often pressured into management for career growth, only to find it a fundamentally different (and for some, less satisfying) job.
- It echoes themes from the "maker vs manager schedule" concept popularized by Paul Graham and the broader industry debate over the dual career ladder (IC track vs management track).