> The best engineering managers I've worked with didn't "become" managers. They were already doing the work - unblocking people, aligning priorities, having hard conversations - and the title caught up.

I have only been working for around 6 years now and have had 4 managers so far. That said this is the opposite of my experience. You need training on actually having reports vs. just leading a team. My current manager does not care about my personal growth or career goals whatsoever and he’s a bad manager for it. But he is good at delivering projects.