> "Moving from dev to manager is NOT A PROMOTION. It's a CAREER CHANGE."

It's in the same field, and you're making a lot more money, and you have higher level responsibilities, and are maybe even working on the same team as before, right? That sounds exactly like a promotion to me.

As someone in another comment says, "In most companies unfortunately the only way to move higher in pay is the management route." This is treated by all involved as not only a promotion, but the only possible promotion.

I guess this pithy saying is meant to emphasize that you're no longer a developer, but that doesn't change the basic fact of what it is.