I am scared I will be asked a lot about why I am switching back into coding and why I left it in the first place? I am scared of coming across as indecisive
I am scared I will be asked a lot about why I am switching back into coding and why I left it in the first place? I am scared of coming across as indecisive
"I was given an opportunity to lead a product I was very excited about, and I took it. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot, but ultimately now I'm glad to be moving back into a developer role."
If you can truthfully say that, you're conveying not indecision, but rather showing the flow of your career path. That is something that is expected to take a few twists like this, and that's even a sign that you're someone with flexibility and a variety of skills, as opposed to being inflexible and unwilling to do things that are "outside the box".
My previous company saw project management as a step up, whereas I see it as just another role. Many engineers make poor project leads, and many project leads make poor engineers. Unfortunately, our society values "people" jobs like leadership positions more than technical jobs, so people will see it as a downgrade (especially those in management).
Ignore that noise and do the thing you like that helps you meet your other goals (financial, lifestyle, etc).
If you switch roles and after a couple of years switch back again - no problem!
If you start to have a history of every six months to a year switching roles or moving companies, that can start to look bad, yes. But even that isn't a disaster that can't be overcome.
I wouldn't worry about it.
As a bonus, they tend to have more empathy for what i have to deal with, so when they ask for support or process changes their ideas tend to be practical and reasonable.