Move up and manage or stay a techie?

[Steve Lewis]

There is a third way.

When people reach the peak of their profession, whatever it is, they often consider creating their own business, or getting together with a team of other highly competent individuals, not necessarily all in the same field, but from the contacts they have built up over the years and utilising their specialisations to create something new.
This is what I have done with livingglass, together with my other half who is a design and marketing consultant, we now have a sideline business as well as the main day-job as a systems admin, which keeps me financially afloat while we try to build it up.
It occurs to me that a whole group of you forumers could get together and create your own business. Sometimes a little sideline can grow into something really big. Just look at Google or RSA.

[George_Dodds]

Well I started a Tech, then was promoted to management.

I thought it would be good experience and it never harms to have it on your CV.

It was good, allthough the decisions to hire and fire were took some getting used to.

In the end i changed jobs and went back to being a techie, it's a lot less stress and your only responsible for your own mistakes ;)

I'm a lot happier now getting my hands dirty again instead of battling mounds of paperwork.

[Peter Leddy_1]

Well, I'm only 26 and I can tell you that I have no intention for the foreseeable future to go into management. I still have way too much to learn technically and otherwise.

However I can say that I have been a TL of a sys admin group being responsible for about 12 people and that was not nice at all. I could hardly concentrate on the techie stuff as I had too many meetings etc to go to.

For the future I'm sure I'll consider it especially (as people have already said) when I'll need to be more considerate to my wife and kids(haven't got them yet but I'm sure I will some day!)

But for now I just want to enjoy my learning experience and keep doing what I'm doing.

[Rita C Workman]

Hi John,

Interesting thread...so much of my circumstances scattered in several threads already.

Ever been offered mgmt...no-not really. Offered the work, but not the title. And why should I bother. To move to mgmt here would be to take the leap into politics (literally) - and that is not for me..period..

But, that's okay. In my role as a simple technical person, I get to either help select or actually decide what we buy for all that is UNIX and all that is disk.. And the budget has handled upgrading the last of the hardware, build a couple SANS and a DR site. As for getting the $$...that is not my department. "Here is what you need, here is what I want"..let mgmt deal with the costs.
Like Pete, I'm pretty much it here, most of the time to myself. They sometimes hire someone to lend me a hand, but that's about it. So I have a good deal of control on my job, and my boss seems to leave me to my own devices (no pun intended). I guess they trust me. And for all the mgmt meetings that I'm left out of - well, all UNIX Admin's know that in the end they will be in front of your desk saying...why-what - - - we need help..

Like others, they probably give me all this freedom and latitude, because frankly, they are getting a 2'fer (UNIX Admin, SAN Mgr & enough Oracle to know how to stay out of trouble), and they know it.

So would I go to mgmt....No Thanks ! I'll just let mgmt come to me...

Regards, (and missed ya in Chicago !)
Rita

[doug mielke]

I certainly don't discount the disadvantages noted on this thread, however, my move to management has resulted in some major advantages.

Having once reported to an Oracle DBA, having them report to me is so much better. I was not allowed to use NAS / cifs / or even symbolic links because the DBA had 'heard somewhere' that Oracle didn't like such things. I once had to build a D class server with 120+ filesystems because the DBA thought it looked cool on a diagram.

I no longer have to deal with the network or comms staff pointing fingers at each other, or to the systems people. I no longer have to prove to our help desk that the system is fine before they will try to diagnose a user desktop.

I like the control I get from wearing the management hat.

and my sleep gets interupted far fewer times now that I can control the mods to my systems.

[Jeff Schussele]

I always love it when Harry pipes up.
You gotta love the fact that he never holds back.

Now for me - I've been in all positions.
Owner, middle mgmnt & "lowly" ole techie.
Which did I benefit most from? No doubt - being top-dog was it. Which did/do I enjoy? Again - no doubt - techie. Not being the end-all do-all of the crap is kind of pleasant. Don't get me wrong - it's the politics that suck the life out of you. Not the demands of the job. I can handle the demands - just not the BS & backstabbing. You can control systems & situations much easier than attitudes & aspirations. It always amazes me what some people are willing to do to "advance" their careers.
So how do I want to end MY career....being the *most* senior techie in the world. Kind of like Linus now...with a LOT more experience and with Paul Allen's $ and free time. Who wouldn't want to put the first commercial man in space and develop a free OS that makes you rich? Notice I value the free OS more than the other.....that's the mark of a truly anti-mgmnt type. I can draw the line at what I'm willing to do to "succeed".

Cheers,
Jeff (Who's determined to *never* prove the Peter Principle.)

[Uwe Zessin]

Being a 'small manager' works great for me ;-)

I can choose all the interesting techie stuff and delegate the boring work. Well, I try to be fair and sometimes I take a not so interesting job just to practice a bit.

[John Jimenez]

4 years ago I was in charge of a small IT staff of 3 people, and was greatly understaffed. It was great to get my hands into everything, but at the same time did not have time to master anything. It was also very high stressed. I missed many of my daughters functions because of it. Sincen then I have moved back to a techie, into an environment which is better staffed. The downside is that I am making less money, But there is more upside... More time for the family and me, I work with a bigger staff so the burden is not all on me.

[Jay Bollyn]

Hi JP,

I like being a techie because the problems on my plate have solutions. I like to think that digital situations are essentially on/off, yes/no, etc. No gray areas.

...compared with managing people, where there are gray areas all over the place. There are often no good solutions when there are personalities and egos involved.

As you say, it is a personal decision. My aptitutes are science and math, so network administration is a good career choice for me. My people skills are weak. At some point, one needs to figure out what one's strengths are, and find a career where those strengths are maximized.

:-) Jay

[Michael Tully]

Very interesting thread JP,

During my time in IT I've experienced both sides of the fence. Before I started at the company I am at now, I was a either a manager or a team leader for the best part of 10 years. A technical manager can experience the techie bit and of course the political BS. Recently I was promoted to a team lead position, something I had been looking forward to, and to the challenge ahead. I see moving into management an advantage for me, as I am more a people person, not just a tech head. Heading in that direction is of course not for everyone, but I will remain technically orientated, so I can still do the things I do now. (I know Harry is going to sit there in that little R & D room of his shaking his head and waving that bottle of Wild Turkey around) There was a time when I thought seriously about escaping from IT altogether but when I thought of the alternatives, I sat down again in my comfy chair and trashed our sandbox for the Junior Sys Admin to fix just for some laughs. Here .... fix that !!

[Jan van den Ende]

Maybe the IT bizz is NOT a standard situation, and that influences opinions...

For a good many years, IT has been booming business, and those that got themselves in IT mgt positions did VERY well.
Then early 90's, there came some dip.
At least in my surroundings, it was often said:
"Well, they all could sail very well ahead of the wind. See how they do with a head-wind!".
Maybe, for a true cure of the bizz, things turned good again too soon, and many have somehow survived the shake-out. Y2k & .COM generated another boom, and a whole lot of new rats entered the race. And now we are dipping again (at least in the western world..), and not all that rose to higher positions are up to the task in not-so-good times.
There is a Dutch saying, that tranlates more-or-less as "Climb high, fall deep".
.... but quite often they drag the company down as well.
Seen it all too often.
And who get the hardest hits? the techies. THEY are the first to get the L-word.
Happened to too many of my colleagues.
Just ain't fair.

And STILL, I prefer being a techie!

Cheers.

Have one on me.

Jan

[R. Sri Ram Kishore_1]

Hi JP,

Excellent post! Simply because this is one question that would have cropped up in everybody's mind, sometime or the other. And people would have spent a lot of precious time trying to solve this great puzzle. My take on this would be ... it really depends on what a person wants/likes. If he/she considers himself/herself a techie, then I guess they must remain one. For instance, in the company I work for, we have two career paths- the people managerial one and the hardcore tech path. It's like every team has two leads, one a tech lead (the techie fits in here) and the team lead (for the future manager). The benefits are the same for both. So, money/benefits isn't going to be a factor in deciding which career path you opt for. And, the management also never offers the team lead post to a very techie guy! Why would they want to kill the goose that lays golden eggs! Moreover, I think it is far more easy and interesting to manage a software/technology than to break your head trying to manage people! As for me, if given a choice, I would remain a techie, provided they are willing to pay me as much as they would have if I took up the manager's post!
I found the following in one of the chain mails that talks about some of the best "out-of-office" auto replies:
"Sorry to have missed you but I am at the doctors having my brain removed
so that I may be promoted to management."

Regards,
Sri Ram

[john korterman]

Hi John and others,

I must say that I envy you guys a little, since I have never had the offer myself - and will probably never have it.
I would definitely have accepted it without hesitation, as I think that the fewer people that can make decisions for you the better.
But unfortunately, it has never been an issue.

It may sound as an excuse, by in my cultural context technicians are rarely promoted to anything above what corresponds to teamleaders. I will define a teamleader as someone having the right to distribute the daily tasks, but may not have the right to sack/hire people or even negotiate their salary for that matter. There are of course exceptions from that rule, but I think that once you have started in the "tech-direction" in Denmark, it is difficult for you to divert from that path.

regards,
John K.