I am currently applying for a management position. My boss tells me that that I will have to leave the technical side. I guess I don't understand this corporate culture, I have been running my own consulting firm for 8 years and I am new at this job. I don't see why you can not do anything technical after you are a "manager". My vision of a manager is more like that of a coach that helps the developers improve their skills, and can discuss technical approaches with them. A see a development manager like a technical leader that has a good vision of where technology will go.<p>I suppose these activities will take up my time in this position:
- Meetings. (I could handle a couple of hours a day)
- Evaluations. (kind of bad)
- Recruitment. (I actually like this)
- Budgeting. (bad)
- <p>I would really like to do this:
- Talk and help the developers of what they are doing.
- Research new technology.
- Look for ways to improve the development environment. like tools and techniques.
- Organize study groups.<p>Am I being too innocent? What do you think?<p>My point is that the role of a technical manager doesn't necessarily have to be just boring clerical work.