A lot of what's in the article resonates with me. Specifically, I've seen cases where managers unwittingly use coding (a problem they feel comfortable with) as a way to escape from facing more serious manager responsibilities (problems they don't feel comfortable with). When you've got 10 years of experience doing X, and you just started doing Y two years ago, it's natural to try to play to your strengths by doing X.
But as a manager, there's a whole category of things that only you can effectively do, because the social environment and power structures are set up that way. In that context, coding is a distraction for a manager. Writing code often takes a lot of mental energy and stays in your head even when you're not at the keyboard.
I don't want my manager getting nerd sniped when they should be coaching a struggling colleague, advocating to upper management, having a tough conversation with a toxic team member, or reigning in the PM.
I’m in favor of managers being engineers but everything you wrote is true. I wish I had read this comment a few years ago, it would have saved me and my teams some trouble.
But as a manager, there's a whole category of things that only you can effectively do, because the social environment and power structures are set up that way. In that context, coding is a distraction for a manager. Writing code often takes a lot of mental energy and stays in your head even when you're not at the keyboard.
I don't want my manager getting nerd sniped when they should be coaching a struggling colleague, advocating to upper management, having a tough conversation with a toxic team member, or reigning in the PM.