[jfim]

It's bumping to manager level, except without the 1:1s, quarterly/yearly planning, headcount and budget reviews, org/reorg discussions, performance calibration, and OKR planning. No complaints about the last review cycle or about the upcoming one.

[baq]

All the ceremony must be replaced with process optimization, skill extraction, harness development and new model evals.

Still better than dealing with people, but only just.

[darkwater]

Totally! But you know what? There are many, oh so many developers that are not ready, don't like and probably are not even cut for this kind of position.