insights · Work · Advancement
Should I Move Into Management?
Management isn't a promotion so much as a career change into a different job. The mistake is accepting it as a reward for being good at the job you'd be leaving.
by Catherine Mallette, founder
Should I Move Into Management?
the short answer
Moving into management isn't a promotion in the way it looks — it's a switch into a fundamentally different job. You stop doing the craft you got good at and start doing a new one: people, priorities, and outcomes you can only reach through others.
The classic trap is taking the role as a reward for excelling as an individual contributor, then realizing you've traded the work you loved for work you don't — more status and pay, less of the thing that made you good in the first place.
So the question isn't "do I deserve the promotion?" It's "do I actually want the manager's job — enabling other people's work instead of doing my own — or do I just want the recognition and money attached to it?"
The Misframe
It's a different job, not a higher rung
We talk about management as "moving up," as though it's the same ladder with a better view. It isn't. A great engineer and a great engineering manager are doing different jobs that happen to live near each other — one builds the thing, the other builds the conditions for other people to build it.
If you loved the craft, management means doing much less of it. Your day fills with one-on-ones, prioritization, hiring, unblocking, and absorbing other people's stress. The satisfaction, when it comes, is second-hand: their growth, their shipped work, their wins.
That second-hand satisfaction is deeply fulfilling to some people and quietly hollow to others. Knowing which you are is the whole decision.
The Lure
Why people take a job they don't want
In most organizations, management is the only well-marked path to more money, status, and influence. So people who love their craft accept the manager role not because they want it, but because it's the only visible way to be rewarded for being good.
That's how you end up with reluctant managers — excellent makers doing a job they don't enjoy, leading teams who can feel the lack of enthusiasm. Everyone loses, including them.
Before you say yes, separate the reward from the role. Is there another way to earn the recognition and pay — a senior IC track, a staff or principal path — that lets you keep doing what you're good at? Often there is, and no one mentioned it.
Who Thrives
Energized by the craft, or by enabling it
Some people are genuinely energized by orchestration — by developing others, shaping a team, turning a group into something more than its parts. For them, management isn't a sacrifice; it's a bigger instrument to play.
Others are most alive in the work itself — deep in the problem, hands on the material. Pulled away from it, they dim, no matter how good they are with people.
Neither is the better person, and neither is the more advanced career. They're different shapes of fulfillment, and the only mistake is choosing the one that isn't yours because it pays better.
The Deeper Question
Making the thing, or making it possible?
Strip away the title and the raise and ask what actually gives you energy: making the thing yourself, or making it possible through other people? Picture a year of each, honestly, on an ordinary Tuesday.
If enabling others lights you up, management may be the most meaningful move of your career. If your aliveness is in the craft, the kindest thing you can do for yourself — and your would-be team — might be to find a way to grow that doesn't require leaving the work behind.
common questions
Frequently asked
Should I move into management?
Move into management if you genuinely want the manager's job — enabling other people's work, developing a team, reaching outcomes through others — and not merely the status and pay attached to it. It's a different job, not a higher rung on the same ladder, so the deciding question is whether making things possible through others energizes you as much as doing the work yourself once did.
What's the difference between an individual contributor and a manager?
An individual contributor does the craft; a manager builds the conditions for others to do it well — through hiring, prioritization, unblocking, and developing people. The satisfaction shifts from first-hand (you made the thing) to second-hand (your team did, partly because of you). That second-hand satisfaction is deeply fulfilling to some and quietly hollow to others, which is what the decision really turns on.
Should I take a management role just for the money?
Be cautious — in many organizations management is the only marked path to more pay and status, which lures craft-lovers into a job they don't actually want, making them reluctant managers their teams can feel. Before accepting for the money, look for another route to the same reward: a senior IC, staff, or principal track that lets you keep doing what you're good at. It often exists and simply wasn't offered.
How do I know if I'd be happy as a manager?
Picture an ordinary year of the actual work — one-on-ones, prioritization, hiring, unblocking, absorbing other people's stress — rather than the title. If developing others and orchestrating a team energizes you, you may thrive and find it the most meaningful move of your career. If your aliveness is in the craft itself, being pulled away from it tends to dim you no matter how good you are with people.
make it personal
Making the thing, or making it possible?
Vesper reads where your energy actually lives — in the craft or in enabling others — so a move into management is a choice about who you want to be, not just a raise you couldn't refuse.