[chasd00]

many companies see it as a natural progression and you begin to get pressure to make the jump. I don't want to bring up the ageism boogieman but as you get older the expectation to be a manager goes up as well. Being a good manager is very hard though and a vanishingly small subset of the skills that make a good swe or even team lead apply in management. It's almost like starting a new career.

I'm in the process of making the jump, my title is even Sr. Manager which at the consulting firm i'm at is pretty high up the food chain. I still serve as architect, TL, and the last point of escalation for dev teams in projects though.

For me, it's just the pay increase that keeps me climbing the ladder. It's all management form here on up where i'm at unfortunately. However, my firm has very VERY nice golden handcuffs so it's not so bad. I still write tons of code with my hobbies and kids so i get to scratch that itch.