Ask HN: How did you escape from middle management trap? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How did you escape from middle management trap?

13 pointsfandorin6 comments

I've been working as a team manager (dev + QA) in huge IT corporation for almost 3 years now and I am feeling that I got stuck at this position. There is a senior management level but it's extremely difficult to get there. Have you ever been in such situation? How did you escape from this trap?

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By doing just the opposite - refuse any job that doesn't have me doing hands on coding at least 50% of the time. I get serious unsolicited offers for middle management while I'm networking. I turn down everyone. If my manager left, I would more than likely be next in line, but I would refuse.

The way I see it, there is a much larger market for highly skilled devs/architects than middle management.

Seconded. It's easier to not get in than it is to get out once you're in.

My last two jobs, I've told them during interviewing that my explicit career goal is to never become a manager. They hired me anyway.

You don't get promoted by staying at a company. You get promoted by leaving for companies who value you more.

I agree completely. Only twice in my career have I gotten a significant (> $10K) raise staying at a company and that was really early on in my career. I started job hopping every 2 - 2.5 years since 2008 and I've seen increases of $7K,10K, 21K, and 18K.

Btw, I'm not bragging. I'm still just barely on the right side of the bell curve as far as salary for my local market. It's just that salary compression is real. Companies would rather lose employees and pay their replacements T market rate than pay to keep good employees.

This happens because the difference in revenue/profit for tech is huge. One company might make $1000000 per employee, another might lose $2000 per employee. All bosses want to pay their staff well, but few can afford it as well as the next guy.

It doesn't matter what the state of the company's margins are. If they need a certain skill set, they are going to have to pay market value.

True, if they only need junior developers and you've worked your way up to be a senior dev as far as skill set, you may be more than the company needs.

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