[domh]

This pretty much summarises my experience, especially the fragmented days and the lack of short feedback cycles. As someone who TDDs as much as I can, the dopamine rush of seeing a piece of code go from nothing to complete is something I found tough to replace in management.

I thoroughly enjoyed the mentorship and relationship building aspects though and it is really great to get to know people on a deeper level. I switched back to being an IC about a year ago, and I do miss the 1:1s with the team.

I moved back to being an IC due to the sheer amount of other things going on in my life (moving countries, having a kid etc). I needed the comfort of doing something I felt deeply familiar with. Definitely like the idea of swinging back to management at some point in the future though.