Comment by SwSwinger

I worked as a manager at a FAANG for 2 years and switched back to IC. It was fairly common practice at my company, even among directors. I actually preferred the management role, but felt like there were many downsides.

  1. I wanted more flexibility in hours and working remotely.  I have elderly parents in another state and want the flexibility to support them, as an only child.
  2. Level of support.  Most directors talked about taking all their vacation at once to relieve pressure to constantly check messages during vacation.  For me, it was a < 1 hr response, much like lawyers.  I was constantly pinged if I ever slacked on checking.
  3. I felt like line management was much less emotionally supported than ICs.  It was pretty common practice to give any positive praise to the IC and negative feedback to the manager, regardless of any sensical attribution.  This was fine for optics, but frustrated me that it extended to internal reviews.
  4. The power dynamics mean that any of your IC friends now have at least a minor level of suspicion towards you.  Other managers also have hostility because advancing feels more zero-sum unless the company is hypergrowth.

I miss being a manager, but my mental health is a lot better. Honestly, I felt like I provided more value to the company as a manager and had a great relationship with my team that continued after I stepped down. It's not my evaluation process however.