[shekispeaks]

The Philip Su example is great, but being an early employee and a manager has basically has insurance against getting fired and he can do what he pleases. That IMHO does not reflect the life of an average facebook employee.

[nocarrier]

Philip is not unique, FB engineering managers of all levels and tenure move into development roles. It's a relatively common occurrence; I'd guess around 5% of managers switch back to coding each year.