[mikecarroll]

True -- there are LOTS of engineering managers who would struggle greatly with the move. They are just too far away from the details and haven't been hands-on in long enough... and don't want to be "in the weeds" anymore. (Good luck to them).

But by the same principle inverse argument is that a lot "tech leads" have the opposite problem: there's no point at which they have been out of the weeds.

That's a key skill that managers have to learn to early: what are the things you DON'T have to look at or know to be most effective. If you are reviewing every bug fix, or have to sit in on every single planning session, you will very quickly hit ceiling of your career as a manager.

I think that a great manager who has done the tech lead job and always worked a few levels above it is best positioned to succeed. But completely agree that good tech leads are very well positioned to make this move too.