How do we make a decision about going into management or staying on the IC track when we come to the point of senior engineer?
You need leadership experience in both management and IC track. So, focus on your motivation. What motivates you? If you want to have a bigger impact, in which way do you want to have this impact, in engineering or people management? On both sides, you have to do one-on-ones, people. However, the content of one-on-ones is different. Management focuses on the other person’s growth and problems, while the IC leader focuses on catching up with the technical side. In the IC track, you help people to learn to come up with better solutions. On the management side, you help people to achieve their goals and become better and more effective employees. In IC management, you don’t write code most of the time. In IC leadership, you still do hands-on coding but not a lot. In pair programming, you are more on the navigator side.
