The technical work vs move into management comes up here from time to time so I thought I'd share my experiences. I got a bit reflective the other day as I noticed my final handoff of my major technical program roughly coincided with my 2 year anniversary of making the switch to manager.
Handing off that responsibility was bittersweet. I don't think anyone knew how big, impactful and successful it would be when I stumbled into into making it a thing about 4 years ago. I built all the code and workflows and was the subject matter expert for all things dealing with it. Now that it's handed off the service will change over time and I won't have the same familiarity I do now. As that was the last major technical work I had been doing I have basically transitioned from someone who does IT work to someone who manages people who do IT work.
That transition hasn't been easy. First I don't recommend managing people who had originally been coworkers with more senior titles if you can avoid it as it can add a lot of complications and negative feelings. Also start with a small team if you can. I went from 0 to 10 and now 15 in my reporting chain (but not all direct reports) and that probably made my adjustment harder as it felt a bit like being dropped in the deep end of the pool. Managing people was a surprise for me in regards to the amount of direction some people need and the help they need to do things that seem obvious. I got a bit more insight here because I had worked with people from a coworker perspective first. Some who I thought had their shit together had it less together than I had realized. Also, coming forward with a problem and potential solutions is less common than I thought. Often its just the problem which was counter intuitive to me. While I like the managing people less than managing IT things that aspect has been getting easier.
The other big change was the group I was now in charge of dealt with things outside my previous expertise as well - technologies and languages I was not familiar with. Going from being extremely knowledgeable and being able to spot coding\log\configuration problems to being given problems or setting direction for things I'm not familiar with and don't even know where the code\logs\configs are stored was an uncomfortable change.
It hasn't all been bad and I'm fortunate to work at a place that invests time and money into professional development. Managing is a whole new area of skills and those often need to be expressed in situations with little time for planning (discussions or even more heated arguments) and those aren't things you can learn to do in those 2 day "You're a manager now!" type classes. I've certainly made mistakes and would go back and handle things differently.
So on the positives - I get to have meaningful impacts on the direction of many more areas. I have a bigger budget and more resources to direct to things I think should be done and will be beneficial. On those previous grumblings of "Why are they deciding to do this dumb thing" I can actually prevent some of those things from happening. YMMV on how much your organization listens to you but these were big wins for me. There are more points of satisfaction when my team accomplishes difficult projects. And, while a collaborative effort, seeing the benefits of influence and direction at a large scale is very satisfying if a bit more stressful*. Lastly the financial upside is better and I have to do much less weekend\after hours work** although my normal workday is a bit longer. I should be able to retire a little bit sooner and I'm hopeful once my skills in this area improve stressors in certain areas will lessen
It's still pretty close to which direction I would go if I had it to do over again but making the transition to manager still gets the slight nod. The freedom and scope of impact my organization gives me factors pretty heavily in there as does the financial side so if those changed so would my answer.
*This is actually an area I'll have to watch. I've already seen myself growing accustomed to additional weight being given to my opinions at work and that is not something that translates 1:1 outside of work
**Technically I could be around even less but if we're having a major planned after hours maintenance event I feel like I should be available
Handing off that responsibility was bittersweet. I don't think anyone knew how big, impactful and successful it would be when I stumbled into into making it a thing about 4 years ago. I built all the code and workflows and was the subject matter expert for all things dealing with it. Now that it's handed off the service will change over time and I won't have the same familiarity I do now. As that was the last major technical work I had been doing I have basically transitioned from someone who does IT work to someone who manages people who do IT work.
That transition hasn't been easy. First I don't recommend managing people who had originally been coworkers with more senior titles if you can avoid it as it can add a lot of complications and negative feelings. Also start with a small team if you can. I went from 0 to 10 and now 15 in my reporting chain (but not all direct reports) and that probably made my adjustment harder as it felt a bit like being dropped in the deep end of the pool. Managing people was a surprise for me in regards to the amount of direction some people need and the help they need to do things that seem obvious. I got a bit more insight here because I had worked with people from a coworker perspective first. Some who I thought had their shit together had it less together than I had realized. Also, coming forward with a problem and potential solutions is less common than I thought. Often its just the problem which was counter intuitive to me. While I like the managing people less than managing IT things that aspect has been getting easier.
The other big change was the group I was now in charge of dealt with things outside my previous expertise as well - technologies and languages I was not familiar with. Going from being extremely knowledgeable and being able to spot coding\log\configuration problems to being given problems or setting direction for things I'm not familiar with and don't even know where the code\logs\configs are stored was an uncomfortable change.
It hasn't all been bad and I'm fortunate to work at a place that invests time and money into professional development. Managing is a whole new area of skills and those often need to be expressed in situations with little time for planning (discussions or even more heated arguments) and those aren't things you can learn to do in those 2 day "You're a manager now!" type classes. I've certainly made mistakes and would go back and handle things differently.
So on the positives - I get to have meaningful impacts on the direction of many more areas. I have a bigger budget and more resources to direct to things I think should be done and will be beneficial. On those previous grumblings of "Why are they deciding to do this dumb thing" I can actually prevent some of those things from happening. YMMV on how much your organization listens to you but these were big wins for me. There are more points of satisfaction when my team accomplishes difficult projects. And, while a collaborative effort, seeing the benefits of influence and direction at a large scale is very satisfying if a bit more stressful*. Lastly the financial upside is better and I have to do much less weekend\after hours work** although my normal workday is a bit longer. I should be able to retire a little bit sooner and I'm hopeful once my skills in this area improve stressors in certain areas will lessen
It's still pretty close to which direction I would go if I had it to do over again but making the transition to manager still gets the slight nod. The freedom and scope of impact my organization gives me factors pretty heavily in there as does the financial side so if those changed so would my answer.
*This is actually an area I'll have to watch. I've already seen myself growing accustomed to additional weight being given to my opinions at work and that is not something that translates 1:1 outside of work
**Technically I could be around even less but if we're having a major planned after hours maintenance event I feel like I should be available
