[cudgy]

“If after one year, you can't leave a team without impact, you've failed in your work.”

A top managerial professor I knew defined a manager’s role to be exactly this. Principal or manager or whatever you are called doesn’t matter in the end, since once you go beyond “senior” level positions your role largely should be facilitating, empowering, and advocating for the members of your team. In reality, these roles unfortunately deteriorate into countless meetings with other managers and political struggles within a strong current of corporate compromises. Ignoring the latter part usually results in bad outcomes for one’s career at this level.

In my opinion, a true, technical principal role only works when there is another very capable person that fulfills the role of shielding the principal from the inevitable political, hierarchical forces that will head their way particularly from the sales and marketing departments.

[mavelikara]

> In reality, these roles unfortunately deteriorate into countless meetings with other managers and political struggles within a strong current of corporate compromises.

It is unfortunate that talented programmers turn their backs on leadership roles requiring inter-personal skills, propagating the stereotypes that prevent programers from progressing in their careers.

> In my opinion, a true, technical principal role only works when there is another very capable person that fulfills the role of shielding the principal from the inevitable political, hierarchical forces that will head their way particularly from the sales and marketing departments.

Needing such "adult supervision" is harmful for programming profession in the long run.

[cudgy]

This is not about who is the “adult” … it’s about creating an environment for success given the expectations of the job.

Technical roles like a true principal at a high level require deep concentration and focus … being interrupted every 15-30 minutes to attend a meeting, answer a phone call, strategize a political response, respond to a slack message, handle complaints from critical clients, attend budget meetings, create reports, etc. is not the right environment.