How did you decide between management and technical track?

I realized that I was procrastinating my "go heads down and write some code" tasks, but not my people/team/leadership/management work. That was all I needed.

You have both skills so, choose which one is valued more in your workplace.

If the management is lacking and you feel you can fill the void, go for it. Same with IC. Of course, you need to also see other aspect, such as could you grow if you're in management? Etc

People management and leadership can be found in (a good) management role. They are eventually useful inside and outside of work.

As an IC, you need to hone the technical fundamental and the creative side of the business. You need to survive by being reliable in solving different problems at different time for people. With the pace we are going with technology, you need to find the essence, the fundamentals, the universals, and to be more careful with the next best shiny techs. Being in IC is also not a reason to not learn leadership.

Sharing my personal exp: I really want to be in managerial to learn more about people, but my expertise lies more in my deeply technical skill and my workplace need me as IC. So here I am in the IC role.

I was in the managerial role a couple of times and I realize it is truly a challenge to move and rouse people without the ability to pay them! We both are working and getting paid by the same company, but somehow here I should be the one giving instructions. It needs a certain confidence to be good at it.

Whichever you choose, keep creating, keep living, and good luck!

I was in my mid 20's Silicon Valley Company I grew my team from myself and 1 employee to 6 full time employee and 2 contractors This was in 1990's The meetings were a bunch of good ole boys congratulating each other on sales, and profit sharing amounts. When everything was done after 3 months to define a new interface drawn on board, talked through, changed. When the new box was swhown to sales marketing their reaction was "I didn't know it was going to work like that !!!" I waited 1 month then quit, Never will I ever do that again Decision made people are my kryptonite !!!!!

I don't really have the choice. There's not a lot of good developers available here, so management seems to be stressful when you can do the work yourself faster.

It's either I spend 3 days negotiating a 3 day extension to the deadline, or I work on pointless things that a manager didn't remove from the list. The latter feels more productive, and pays slightly better, without the prestige.

I think if you are a good worker you will end up managing other people. Whether that be devs, engineers or researchers.

Managing other people is hard work. I think of it as a privilege. After 25 years in IT I am now more interested in people than hardware/software. Some of my highlights have been seeing people get jobs which changed their lives.

So I would say invest in learning about management/leadership.

Have you thought about the various Architect roles? Some companies, particularly Financial Services and organisations in the UK/Europe employ people in these roles. They're a good blend of technical/people/project leadership with an accompanying level of responsibility. Could be right up your street?

(Source: I'm a Director-level with several managers reporting to me, and have been managing for 8 years now.)

What are your goals? is it just more money and responsibility? Is it helping other people? Do you get a thrill out of teaching and mentoring? Are you the kind of person who just has to be one of the decision makers? Is control and power over your life/destiny/work/others something you desire? These are all questions you should ask yourself right now.

I talk to my engineers very often about their career goals, and whenever they say they want to be managers, my first response is, "Why?" And then I listen to their reasons, and then I tell them all the reasons why management track career growth doesn't meet their goals. I am a _little_ hyperbolic when I talk about these, because in my experience, most people want more money and more responsibility, but do not like endless meetings and talking to people all day long, and the reason I kinda try to talk people out of it is that you can get all of those things WITHOUT becoming a manager. After this conversation, if they still want to pursue management, then I describe the expectations and we set milestones on how to get there.

All of this is to say that you need to have that conversation with your manager first. What exactly are the expectations of management vs IC?

Some more things to consider:

At some point in a management track career, assuming progression on that track, you will have to give up writing code. It will happen. You will eventually manage enough people that you don't have time to write code. Is that acceptable to you? If so, then that's one thing in favor of management track.

Do you like meetings? At some point your entire day will be nothing but meetings. If that's OK, then that's another in favor of management track.

Can you have hard conversations with people effectively? Every manager at some point will have to have a tough conversation with someone about their performance or their personality. Firing people is hard. Giving tough feedback is hard. Doing it well is even harder.

Do you hate office politics? If you hate office drama and you hate saying one thing but meaning another, then maybe management isn't for you. The higher you go, the more politics plays into it. There are people who will say "don't work at a place with office politics," but in my experience, it's unavoidable.

Anyway. I could go on for quite a bit about this, but at the end of the day, this is a conversation that YOU need to have with your boss. Make sure you fully understand the consequences of switching away from writing code full-time. It may have far-reaching impacts that you don't realize, both within the company and personally. Your own happiness and mental well-being can change drastically. Personally? I love management and I still write code for fun. But the stress that I feel at work is totally different as a manager than it was when I was an IC, and in many ways, that can be a bad thing.

Finally, and perhaps contrary to everything I said above, you can always change your mind. If you go into management, and six months down the road you decide you hate it, you can go back to being an IC. Maybe not at your current company. Maybe your own pride or company policy would forbid that. Totally understandable. But you can always find a new role at a new company as an IC. "I didn't like it. I very much prefer to be an IC and contribute in that manner" is a perfectly legitimate answer to "Why aren't you in management anymore?"

Good luck!

Technical recruiter here.

This is what I tell candidates:

If you like more people, do the team lead track, if you like more coding, to the tech lead, technical track.