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> I really think all the advice about managing people is about competencies and strategies that a good engineer should also be developing.

I agree with this. At the same time, I think it's important to tease apart skills from rewards. I take all of the skills that are important for managers really seriously and care a lot about them. I work hard on my communication skills, empathy, task and time management, ability to create structure, etc. Those are basically the suite of management skills.

At the same time, I don't get much reward from a management role. When I have been in a lead role, it's been gratifying to see my team do well, but often not as gratifying as the feeling of making a thing myself. I just love building stuff more than I love coaching and creating structure for other people.

So it is important even in an IC role to work on the skills managers also need, but that doesn't necessarily imply that everyone should aim to do management work.

When TWD was still new on TV and everyone loved to chat about their end-of-the-world survival strategies I would joke that in the Apocalypse I'd be a tinker and head of HR.

Both of these sound like menial jobs in the 1st world but if you can repair broken shit OR you can decide who has useful skills (and ultimately, who stays or goes), you are one of the five most important people in the group (and I could be two of them). They'd look at me funny and go back to talking about what machete or door design was best.

Being able to find things that people can excel at (or at the very least meet expectations) comes in pretty handy at work. You have the people you have, what's the best outcome you can get out of them? Not a conversation everyone wants to have, but pretty damned useful when it does happen.

> head of HR. [...] menial job

I'm sorry, that came out judgy. If you're Head of HR for a 300+ person company that's a lot of work, a lot of responsibilities and a ton of coordination.

If you're 'Head of HR' for a ragtag group of 20 people that's a title without much gravitas. A head with no tail is just a node.

> it's up to you, your subordinates, and your boss to define what is your role

Totally! And this is exactly why we are using this TLM role so you can try before you buy into full management responsibilities.

One of the gravest errors we make in software is assuming that the only way to advance in your career is into management. That said, it's also unfair to assume that great coders will never want to manage. Having a trial role that blends the two responsibilities de-risks the business in new management while allowing developers to see if these new sets of expectations are congruent with how they want to develop their careers.