Let me tell you something that nobody tells you when you're considering management: it's not a promotion. It's a career change.
You're not becoming a "better engineer." You're becoming a different kind of professional who happens to work with engineers. The skills that made you successful as an IC—deep technical expertise, solving complex problems, shipping code—become less important than skills you might not have: coaching, communication, navigating org politics, making hard people decisions.
I've seen brilliant engineers become mediocre managers because they thought it was the only way up. And I've seen good engineers become great managers because they genuinely wanted to multiply impact through others. The difference? Knowing why you're doing it and whether you're actually ready.
First: Why Do You Want This?
Before we talk about whether you're ready, let's talk about whether you actually want it.
Bad Reasons to Become a Manager:
Not true at most modern tech companies. The Staff+ IC track exists for this exact reason.
Staff/Principal engineers have massive impact. Management is one path to impact, not the only one.
Then you're burnt out, not ready for management. Take a break, switch teams, or try a new domain first.
That's not management—that's authoritarianism. Management is about enabling others, not commanding them.
Being available doesn't mean you're the right fit. This is how teams get bad managers.
Good Reasons to Become a Manager:
This is the core of management. If mentoring and coaching feel like work, management will drain you.
Managers have the authority to actually change how teams work. If this excites you, that's a good sign.
Cross-team coordination, resource allocation, roadmap planning—if these sound interesting, not tedious, that's promising.
This is crucial. Your job becomes making your team the best coders, not being the hero yourself.
Performance issues, difficult feedback, conflict resolution—this is a huge part of the job. If you're not willing, don't manage.
Sign 1: You're Already Doing the Work
The best predictor of management success? You're already managing unofficially.
Look at what you're actually spending time on:
- •Mentoring junior engineers beyond just answering their questions
- •Coordinating across teams to unblock work
- •Improving team processes because you care about how the team operates
- •Having 1-on-1s with teammates to help them through challenges
- •Running retros, planning sessions, or technical discussions
- •Advocating for your teammates in meetings or promo packets
If you're doing these things and enjoying them—even though they take time away from coding— that's a strong indicator you might be ready.
If you're avoiding these things because you just want to code, that's also useful information. You probably shouldn't be a manager (and that's totally fine).
Sign 2: You Care About Others' Success as Much as Your Own
Here's a test: Your teammate ships a major feature. It's a huge win for the team. You contributed ideas and unblocked them, but they did the implementation and got the credit.
How do you feel?
If your first reaction is: "That should have been my project. I could have built it better." → You're not ready.
If your first reaction is: "Hell yeah, they crushed it. Love seeing them grow." → You might be ready.
Management requires genuine joy in others' success. Your wins become their wins. You celebrate when someone you mentored gets promoted, even if it means losing them from your team. You get excited when your report ships something you didn't even know about because they didn't need you.
If that sounds fulfilling, management might be for you. If it sounds like settling for second place, stick with IC work.
Sign 3: You Can Give Hard Feedback Without Avoiding It
The hardest part of management isn't the meetings. It's the uncomfortable conversations:
- •Telling someone their code quality isn't good enough
- •Putting someone on a performance improvement plan
- •Denying someone a promotion they expected
- •Navigating interpersonal conflicts between team members
- •Having to let someone go
Have you given direct critical feedback to a peer or junior engineer? Not just hints or gentle suggestions— actual clear feedback about something they need to change?
If you avoid these conversations or sugarcoat feedback to the point where it's meaningless, management will be torture. Both for you and for your reports who don't get the feedback they need to grow.
Self-Assessment Question:
When you need to give critical feedback, do you:
- A) Avoid it and hope the problem fixes itself
- B) Give vague hints and hope they figure it out
- C) Feel anxious but do it anyway, clearly and kindly
- D) Lean into it as an opportunity to help them improve
If you answered C or D, you're ready. A or B? Work on this skill before managing.
Sign 4: You Think in Systems, Not Just Code
Strong ICs think: "How do I solve this problem?"
Strong managers think: "How do I set up systems so these problems don't happen—or so my team can solve them without me?"
Examples of systems thinking:
Scenario: Bug slips to production
IC thinking: "I'll fix the bug."
Manager thinking: "Why didn't our testing catch this? Do we need better processes, or do people need training? How do we prevent this category of bug?"
Scenario: Junior engineer asks tons of questions
IC thinking: "Let me answer all their questions."
Manager thinking: "What documentation is missing? Who else can help mentor them? How do I set them up to find answers independently?"
Scenario: Team missing sprint commitments
IC thinking: "I'll work weekends to make up the difference."
Manager thinking: "Are we estimating wrong? Are priorities unclear? Do we have the right people in the right roles? Is this even the right goal?"
If your instinct is to jump in and solve things yourself, you'll struggle as a manager. Your job becomes building systems and processes that enable your team to solve things without you.
Sign 5: You're Comfortable Not Being the Expert
As an IC, your value is expertise. As a manager, your value is judgment and enablement.
This means you'll manage people who are better than you at specific things. Your senior engineer will know the codebase better. Your security specialist will know more about threat modeling. Your ML engineer will understand the models better than you ever will.
Are you okay with this?
The Manager's Mindset Shift:
As an IC: "I need to be the best engineer on the team."
As a Manager: "I need to hire and grow engineers who are better than me, and make sure they have what they need to succeed."
If you need to be the smartest person in the room, management will be painful. If you can be comfortable saying "I don't know, but Sarah does—let's ask her," you'll be fine.
Sign 6: You Understand That Context Switching Is The Job
As an IC, deep focus time is precious. You block off hours for deep work. You get into flow state. Interruptions are the enemy.
As a manager, interruptions ARE the job.
Your day looks like:
- •1-on-1 with engineer struggling with project direction
- •Quick Slack question about unblocking a PR
- •Urgent escalation from another team
- •Roadmap planning meeting
- •Performance review you need to write
- •Recruiting interview
- •Someone needs career advice NOW before they accept another offer
You're switching contexts every 30-60 minutes. You rarely get 4-hour blocks of uninterrupted time. And when you do, it's for things like performance reviews and hiring, not coding.
If this sounds like hell, stay IC. If it sounds manageable (or even energizing), you might be ready.
Red Flags You're Not Ready Yet
Warning Signs to Address First:
You need technical credibility. Managing without it is brutal.
Start mentoring as an IC. If you don't enjoy it, you won't enjoy management.
Management is full of difficult conversations. This is a learnable skill, but you need to commit to learning it.
It's not easier—it's different. And often harder because success is less clear-cut.
Unless they're gatekeeping (rare), they probably see something you don't. Ask for specific feedback.
How to Test Whether It's Right for You
Before committing, try these things as an IC:
Management Simulation Exercises:
- Mentor a junior engineer for 3 months. Take real responsibility for their growth. Do you enjoy it or resent the time?
- Lead a project with cross-team dependencies. You'll get a taste of coordination overhead and organizational friction.
- Run your team's sprint planning for a few sprints. See what it's like to facilitate process instead of just participating.
- Volunteer for interviewing and recruiting. Hiring is a huge part of management. Do you find it energizing or draining?
- Help write someone's promo packet. Advocating for others is core management work.
- Shadow your manager for a week. See what their actual day looks like, meetings and all.
If you're energized by most of these, management might be for you. If they all sound terrible, stick with IC.
The Alternative: The Staff+ IC Track
Here's what a lot of people don't realize: you can have all the impact, scope, and compensation of a manager while staying technical.
The Staff+ IC track (Staff Engineer, Senior Staff, Principal, Distinguished) is for engineers who want to:
- •Solve deeply technical problems
- •Influence through expertise and technical vision
- •Mentor and multiply impact without formal management
- •Stay close to the code while having organizational impact
This is a legitimate career path, not a consolation prize. At many companies, Staff Engineers and Engineering Managers are at the same level and compensation. Senior Staff/Principal engineers often out-earn directors.
If you want impact but love technical work, seriously consider Staff+ before defaulting to management.
Making the Decision
You're probably ready for management if:
- ✓You're already doing informal management and enjoying it
- ✓Helping others succeed genuinely energizes you
- ✓You can give hard feedback directly and kindly
- ✓You think in systems, not just individual solutions
- ✓You're comfortable not being the technical expert
- ✓Context switching doesn't destroy you
- ✓You have at least 1-2 years of senior-level experience
- ✓You understand this is a career change, not a promotion
Management isn't better than IC work. It's just different. The question isn't "Am I good enough to be a manager?" The question is "Is this the kind of work I want to do?"
Answer that honestly, and you'll make the right call.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to stop coding if I become an engineering manager?
Not immediately, but coding will become 10-20% of your time instead of 80-100%. Many new managers struggle because they try to stay full-time IC while managing. The job is primarily about enabling others to code well, not coding yourself. If you love coding more than anything else, the Staff+ IC track might be a better fit.
Can I go back to being an IC if management isn't for me?
Yes, but it gets harder the longer you're in management. Within the first 1-2 years, it's relatively easy. After 3-5 years, your technical skills may have atrophied enough that returning requires significant ramp-up. Some companies have clear IC/manager switching paths, others don't. Ask about this before making the transition.
How do I know if I should be a Staff Engineer or an Engineering Manager?
Staff Engineers drive impact through technical excellence and influence. Managers drive impact through people and process. Ask yourself: Do you get more energy from solving hard technical problems or helping others grow? Neither is better—they're different paths that require different strengths.
What's the biggest mistake new engineering managers make?
Trying to be the best coder on the team while managing. This leads to bottlenecking, micromanaging, and burnout. The hardest part of becoming a manager is accepting that your job is now to multiply the effectiveness of others, not to be the most productive individual contributor.
How long should I be a senior engineer before becoming a manager?
There's no magic number, but 2-4 years as a senior engineer is common. You need enough technical credibility that your team respects your judgment, and enough experience to mentor others effectively. That said, management is a different skillset—being a great IC doesn't automatically make you a great manager.
Not Sure Which Path Is Right for You?
SIA can help you think through the IC vs. management decision based on your specific situation, strengths, and career goals. Get personalized advice from someone who's seen both paths work.