I decided to leave senior leadership and return to IC engineering work last year. I was met with shock and, frankly, negative feedback from my peers. It has been a difficult transition, and it's easy to miss the benefits of leadership, but I knew engineering was the right place for me.
It was difficult to do this as a veritable nobody, I can't even imagine the difficulty of the decision for Mitchell. I wish him luck and continued success.
I just like building things, convincing people of what should be built is another matter entirely. There is so much stupid horseshit you have to cut through, due to the multiplicity of interests in play at any given time. I’d rather fight with a buggy framework or poorly designed toolchain or whatever.
However, in business, leadership is often conflated with "legitimate power" (as opposed to expert or referent power), meaning that the person holds a title and is assigned direct reports. Titles and employees are not necessary for leadership.
I wish that engineering departments were better at highlighting this. A person with practice and experience can be a leader by simply working hard, setting a good example, giving input in team meetings, etc.