[mattbrewsbytes]

Completely correct on all points. When I was a programmer, I would sit and stew about the decisions management made. I was deluded into thinking "I would do this different". Moving into management and realizing that it is a totally different role of planning, organization and coordination - all of which isn't really in your control.

After having been a manager for a few years now, I realize my tech skills have degraded. So I do side projects programming things I want to do, the way I want to do it to keep my skills up to date.

The other thing I think I'm realizing is that being a manager is sort of generic role. Most career paths forward at this point look rather boring and mundane. Even if it is a new project - some sort of skunkworks effort - using some new tech and solving really cool problems - managing that isn't much different than managing a team maintaining a 10 year old system. Maybe morale is easier to manage.

Think about what your next position would be after taking a management role - your options become limited. Other companies may see you as "manager" and not as "developer" regardless of skills, perhaps thinking subconsciously that "if I hire this guy, he is going to want my job".

[Tyrannosaurs]

Yep, development manager / development project manager is actually an odd half way house. It's still basically a delivery role, working closely with developers and the product, but it's the last time that's really true. Beyond that when you start managing managers, things start becoming somewhat more abstract and that's where things really change.