I turned down a manager job to stay an individual contributor

Last year, my boss offered me a team lead role with a $15,000 raise. Everyone said I should take it for the money and the title. I said no because I love the hands-on coding work I do now, and I saw how stressed the last lead was. I stayed a senior developer and just asked for more complex projects instead. It's been 10 months and I'm way happier, but my family still thinks I made a bad move. Has anyone else skipped a promotion and been glad they did?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliot_gibson2723d ago

Man, my buddy Dave did the exact same thing. They wanted to make him a project manager, which meant endless meetings and spreadsheets. He knew he'd hate it, so he asked to just be the go-to guy for the really tough system bugs instead. He's way less stressed now and actually fixed a huge problem last week that had everyone else stuck. Some people at work still don't get it, but he's loving his job.

dylan37623d ago

Honestly @elliot_gibson27, that sounds like a career dead end. Dave might be happy now, but he just turned down a real leadership role. Those meetings and spreadsheets are how you actually get things done and move up. Being the bug fixer guy keeps you stuck in the same spot forever. He'll probably regret it in a few years when he's still doing the same grind while others get promoted. Companies need people to step up, not just hide in the technical details.

wendy13123d ago

But does moving up always mean doing work you hate?

-1