[physicles]

> the cost of shifting the things you care most about entirely

Wow, I never heard it articulated that way, but that’s exactly what it is. In 2015, after dodging the EM role for half a decade, my manager left, and there was no one else, so I had to step up. I was below average because I never stopped caring about the code. Luckily for my team, I left the company after eight months.

Now, having been the senior tech person in a startup for the last four years, I feel the fatigue from churning out code (I’ll sketch out a design over a few minutes, and then have to spend days building it), and it’s obvious that the only way to get a better ROI on my time is to lead and/or delegate. For the first time in my career, that feels exciting. I still care too much about tech to be a good manager, but I feel my mindset shifting.