The Two Career Tracks in Tech
Most mature tech companies now offer two parallel career ladders:
- Individual Contributor (IC): Deep technical expertise, hands-on coding, architecture, technical strategy.
- Manager/Leader: Team building, project execution, people development, and organizational impact.
Both are valid and valuable. One isn’t inherently better than the other—they just require different skill sets and offer different types of rewards.
What Changes When You Become a Manager?
- Your success is no longer measured by your code.
As a manager, you’re judged by how well your team performs—not by how much you personally ship. - You deal with people more than problems.
That means one-on-ones, conflict resolution, career coaching, performance reviews, and sometimes even layoffs. - You’ll still need technical fluency.
Good engineering managers don’t stop understanding the tech. But their role is to enable others, not to be the top coder on the team.
Signs You Might Be Ready for Management
- You enjoy mentoring and helping others grow.
- You’re curious about team dynamics, product planning, and organizational design.
- You already informally lead initiatives or onboard new hires.
- You feel more motivated by collective success than individual contributions.
Challenges to Expect
- Letting go of code can be surprisingly emotional.
- Context switching becomes your new default.
- Imposter syndrome hits differently when you’re suddenly responsible for people’s careers.
- Feedback loops are longer—you don’t get the same instant satisfaction as shipping code.
How to Test the Waters
Before you jump in full-time, try these:
- Take on a tech lead role to manage projects and people lightly.
- Run a mentorship circle or onboarding program.
- Work closely with your current manager to shadow their responsibilities.
- Ask for feedback from teammates on your leadership skills.
Final Thought: It’s OK to Switch Back
One of the healthiest things about tech today is the growing acceptance of moving between IC and manager roles. Try it. Reflect. Adjust. You’re not locked in forever.