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> It's not true that in all companies you have to chose between tech and management. It's true in some companies. But at many companies lead and director roles are very hands on.

I‘ve seen bad companies where it is true, but in good companies typically not true. Look for example Peter Norvig, 100% hands on technical type, but in a high management position.

▲ throwaway2037 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

    > Look for example Peter Norvig, 100% hands on technical type, but in a high management position.

Just one time in my career, for about one year, I was tech lead on a small, wildly talented team. When you are "managing" highly-skilled, highly-motivated people who are paid very well... you don't have to do very much. Talk to them for a few mins a day. Be available they have questions. Else, it runs itself. Probably, the biggest enemy of success on those teams is intellectual boredom! I assume that Peter Norvig does very little day-to-day management. Instead, he is working in the same way that I was. It is much harder to be a good manager when you don't have all of the stars aligned: less skilled, or less motivated, or less well paid.

▲ mattgreenrocks a day ago | parent | prev [-]

These types of ultra-high IC positions tend to be gate-kept by companies, often requiring a lot of prestige and experience.

It's a nice gesture that they exist, but we're not all Rob Pike or Peter Norvig.

	▲	ZephyrBlu 20 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah, top-level IC positions are much harder to acquire than their equivalent management positions and tend to require some level of public claim to fame.