A fork in the road
I foreshadowed this post almost a year ago when I wondered aloud about what I really liked doing. The thoughts that were starting to form then have melded with a year of experience, and I find myself at a rather definite decision point in my career.
According to my pay grade I've been a middle manager for a few years now, but in reality I've been almost purely technical with the occasional bit of staff & project management thrown in. I moved into my current team 6 months ago because I'm passionate about the work - it's an area I've previously put a lot of energy into and I feel a strong connection with the business. The team is large enough to have a dedicated project manager and a senior tech lead, and the plan of course was that I would be the tech lead. But for various reasons I haven't written any code (at work) for the last 6 months, which is easily the longest period since I finished uni 8 years ago. If I wasn't writing code because I was too busy with deep technical designs maybe this wouldn't be an issue, but in reality I've been spending most of my time on project management. And I have to admit, I've been enjoying it. I've learnt a lot of new skills and have started thinking at a different level, and having the ability to concentrate on what my team needs without worrying about my own technical delivery has been somewhat freeing.
At this point I could go either way: pick up the management thread and see where it takes me; or push back into the technical and try and etch out a career for myself there. I'm only just starting to come to terms with the consequences of each of those options.
