[themadturk]

At my employer it's not terribly unusual for an analyst or developer to become a manager (team manager in most cases), stay in that role for several years, and elect to return to "the ranks." Typically these people go into the role of "senior" developer or analyst. Everyone seems happy with this changing of roles; valuable experience stays in the company, and often with increased productivity. One manager I know of demoted himself to senior analyst in anticipation of retirement, and hasn't retired yet (five years later). He might be enjoying himself too much.