Pros and Cons of Going from Management Back to Individual Contributor

1 · Daniel Doubrovkine (dB.) @dblockdotorg · Nov. 17, 2019, midnight
There’s much written about becoming an Engineering Manager, but little about going back to being an Individual Contributor. This is not surprising because it often feels like a demotion or giving up. This is my story and thoughts on leaving a CTO role and going back to being an individual contributor. I am six months into a Principal Engineer role. About 15 years ago I began to see how every technical problem was a people problem, and naturally felt that the best way to solve technical issues, a...