[aviditas]

As someone with excellent social skills in a technical field, I constantly get pushed towards management. In terms of upward salary momentum, I understand why a lot of women go that route. Investment of time to return is high if you are successful there. If you are constantly being told that you'd be a good fit for management, it makes sense that most people would gravitate towards it as a career.

I like to say that I am happy to be a leader in a technical role but have zero desire to be 'in management'. Interfacing with other teams and departments is critical for the long-term success of my work, but the bulk of my time is spent on heads down technical stuff. I wish there were more opportunities for everyone to try out having direct reports without it being a path of no return (or path of difficult to turn back). My experience with being a supervisor 10+ years ago was very valuable in that I found that while I was moderately good at it, the constant required social interaction for 90% of the day was massively draining and left me a blob after work.

[skuxxlife]

I unfortunately also have had the experience of being pushed towards management, even though I'd say I have only slightly above average social skills. At a former job I was told I could be promoted to a senior software engineer in "3-4 years" (this was 8 years into my career after multiple years of "greatly exceeds expectations" reviews at this company) or I could become a manager. I held off for awhile since I had no real desire to manage, but I could talk to people and organize things so eventually that felt like my only way up. I did it for a year and hated it, then quit to be a technical founder at a startup, which is actually less stressful and way more enjoyable. I guess it worked out for me in the end (though I should have left way sooner), but I know I am not the only woman who had similar experiences at that company which makes me sad.