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No longer want to be a manager

9 replies

TeaKettleBell · 18/06/2019 06:53

Hi all,
I was promoted to management of a small team last year, but I’ve never really felt it’s me.
I work in IT and enjoy building and investigating things. Now I shuffle bits of paper, prepare status reports that I’m pretty sure no one reads and I’m so bored and depressed by it all. My workload was so heavy that I went from being incredibly stressed to feeling something ‘ping’ inside my head and now I just don’t care any more.
I have very little support from my manager as they are based in the US.
I thought management would be the next step up but I get no joy from it at all.

OP posts:
TeaKettleBell · 18/06/2019 06:54

Sigh that’s very depressing reading.

Time to find something new.

OP posts:
Preggosaurus9 · 18/06/2019 07:07

On the bright side, you've tried it and know it's not for you. No shame in that.

TeaKettleBell · 18/06/2019 07:16

That’s a very good point!
To be honest I only applied for the role because I didn’t want to be managed on the team I built up.

OP posts:
TakenForSlanted · 18/06/2019 07:25

Not unusual at all. I'm a senior executive in tech and see this every day.

IME as a rule - and there will be exceptions to this - the best tech people will absolutely not make the best managers and vice versa. I say this as someone with a very technical background who made a reasonably good (but by far never the best) developer back in my day.

Having discussed this with lots of my colleagues, I've come to suspect that really good technical people (and I include profiles like e.g. technical BAs in that) need to have a certain degree of tunnel vision. I mean that in the most positive sense, as in: need to focus relentlessly on resolving problems in the technically most desirable manner.

Really good managers, on the other hand, will always want to look for alternatives and will base their decisions on business outcomes. E.g. just yesterday, I told a client that, while I liked making sales as much as the next person, I didn't really want to sell them technology X because their problem would just as easily be resolved by leveraging technology Y that they already have and save them a lot of money in the long run. It's not elegant and my developers are going to resent the fact that I talked them out of a challenging assignment but it's what's best for the client taking into account their mid- to long-term strategy and their options.

Long story short, I don't think one's better than the other per se. But I do think that good techies often don't make happy managers and vice versa.

So, OP, I'd recommend you go ahead and ask if a move to a different role is an option. Ideally perhaps some kind of senior SME type role where you still tend to get managerial level salaries but you can actually focus on leading on the subject matter and not on the stakeholder management and status reporting front.

WeShouldOpenABar · 18/06/2019 07:57

It doesn't suit you and that's fine, I'm the same but unfortunately once you get to a certain level it's the only place to advance. I go into jobs now and say honestly from the outset I don't want to manage, I always get forced into promotions and currently have ended up with direct reports by stealth Hmm

FiveStoryFire · 18/06/2019 11:55

I've worked in IT and completely agree that the best tech people don't always make the best managers and vice versa.

They are very different skill sets.

I'd go back to doing what you love OP. Life's too short.

FiveStoryFire · 18/06/2019 11:56

And absolutely agree that one isn't better than the other. They are just different.

EBearhug · 18/06/2019 19:11

I work in IT too, and some years ago, they introduced a tech track as well as a management track, because of the problem of getting so far and then the only way to progress is to go into management. Has your employer got a path for technical progression?

TeaKettleBell · 18/06/2019 20:32

Thanks so much for the replies, it actually made going into work a good thing because now I’m going to plan an escape from management by looking at other roles.
My IT company has introduced a tech progression track but to be honest you very rarely get people on those grades. They are usually deeply technical and read manuals for enjoyment.
I like solving problems and building tools, but I’m not hard core technical, plus working as BA/PM has de-skilled me a bit.
I’m going to swot up and see what’s out there.

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