I started writing software in 1984. Over the years I worked with many languages, technologies, and tools. I have been in leadership positions since the early 2000s, and in executive roles since 2014.
Thank you for your note. I don't disagree with anything you said. The tech path is very hard.
In my post, I said that it is "familiar" making the assumption that the reader is a developer who is familiar with the difficulties of that path.
For a developer, management can appear scary because it is a completely new direction.
I had no intention to imply that the technical path is easy or relaxing. Far from it. I also agree with you that technical leadership requires many soft skills, even if you are not managing the people you work with.
The biggest difference is in the type of problems you need to contend with using soft skills. As a tech lead you can keep it technical, so you need to know how to approach developers on technical subjects. As a manager, you have to add the soft skills necessary to deal with much more personal issues such as friction between employees, health issues, promotions and raises, performance issues, team building activities, career management, career mentoring, etc. Those are the kinds of things that, in my experience, make management "scary" for tech types.
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Thank you for your note. I don't disagree with anything you said. The tech path is very hard.
In my post, I said that it is "familiar" making the assumption that the reader is a developer who is familiar with the difficulties of that path.
For a developer, management can appear scary because it is a completely new direction.
I had no intention to imply that the technical path is easy or relaxing. Far from it. I also agree with you that technical leadership requires many soft skills, even if you are not managing the people you work with.
The biggest difference is in the type of problems you need to contend with using soft skills. As a tech lead you can keep it technical, so you need to know how to approach developers on technical subjects. As a manager, you have to add the soft skills necessary to deal with much more personal issues such as friction between employees, health issues, promotions and raises, performance issues, team building activities, career management, career mentoring, etc. Those are the kinds of things that, in my experience, make management "scary" for tech types.