[walrus1066]

"Non technical management - this should speak for itself. I've done it before to much regret."

I wouldn't put this as a con, I've seen lots of engineers turn into terrible managers, because the skills are completely orthogonal, they also then lose touch with the tech - because that's what happens if you stop coding for even a few months.

Vice versa, I've worked with lots of good non technical managers, who respect and defer to you for technical decisions, planning etc

And of course the other way round, also seen good technical managers and bad non technical ones.

In summary, technical experience of a manager is not an indicator for me, what is are the human factors, do they micromanage? Are they happy to cede control and delegate? Do they give realistic deadlines instead of death marches?

[watwut]

The ways engineers are terrible managers non-technical managers are often terrible too. In addition to that, they also know less about work itself and are more likely to be insecure about that. They cant distinguish between good and bad engineers replacing various signals for that and are easy to manipulate by charismatic but not too good engineers. The lack of knowledge shows up in small things and big things and overall bluffing. So you get same problems plus some more.

Non technical here does not mean "does not have technical school". If that person took effort to learn, then he can be technical without degree etc obviously.

[walrus1066]

"The ways engineers are terrible managers non-technical managers are often terrible too. In addition to that, they also know less about work itself and are more likely to be insecure about that."

I would put that as another human/personal trait, the ability to openly acknowledge ones limitations and delegate/defer when someone else has more expertise than you. For example, when making a technical decision, deferring to the tech lead & individual contributors.

If anything, a technical manager whose tech skills are/have slipped away is more likely to be insecure than someone non technical.

[watwut]

Technical manager needs to defer decisions too. No amount of knowledge makes it good idea to micromanage or not to build consensus with those he manages.

However, he still have better ability in deciding who to defer/trust to, better sense on bullshit vs reality, better idea about nuances of decisions and knows words people use. That shows up in how meetings are moderated, people know it and also some will always try to game the manager. Non technical manager is reduced to parroting sentences and attitudes he does not understand fully. Knowing something is not a disadvantage, ever. Not knowing something is.

Every manager needs to make some decisions too. And in there, knowledge helps. Knowledge that slipped away is better then no knowledge and worst then relevant knowledge.