[nickm12]

(broad generalizations ahead) Technical management and people management are different jobs. People management involves a lot more focus on hiring, performance evaluation, and performance management. It also tends to have many more meetings, including 1:1 meetings with all of your reports weekly or biweekly. This generally does not leave time for significant individual contributor work.

[bartimus]

Yes, I've had meetings with those people managers. I would consider them more HR type managers. After some reading it's my understanding that - from an HR perspective - the main difference between a manager and an "individual contributor" is that the IC doesn't have direct reports. Since those tasks would take up too much of their time. Those tasks are being transfered to the HR style managers. But the IC still performs many tasks which are traditionally considered "management responsibilities" with their day-to-day work.