Not everyone needs to manage: why staying technical can be a smart move

A few years ago, Ruslan Tereshchenko was on the lookout for a new role in tech with a clear goal in mind: becoming a Team Lead. It felt like the logical next step - moving away from hands-on coding towards managing people and shaping how teams worked.

But as is often the case, career paths rarely follow a straight line. When he received an offer to join Pwrteams as a Software Engineer within the dedicated team of the global travel giant TUI, he chose to stay technical and discovered that it opened even more exciting doors.

Today, Ruslan works as a Solution Architect, shaping technical direction, influencing key decisions and helping teams thrive - proving that staying technical can lead to leadership and impact, without necessarily moving into people management

If this story resonates with you, you’re not alone. In this edition of Career Insights, our ongoing blog series exploring real-world career paths in tech, Oksana Kotyliak, Talent Sourcing Lead at Pwrteams Ukraine takes a look at why moving into management isn’t the only way forward. For many developers and engineers, staying technical is not just a valid path - it’s a smart and strategic career move.

The management myth: why "up" isn’t always forward

For decades, many companies operated on a simple premise: if you’re good at your job, you should lead others doing that job. But technical expertise and people management require very different skill sets and one doesn’t naturally lead to the other.

Think about it - would we expect a brilliant surgeon to automatically excel at hospital administration? Or a top chef to thrive as a restaurant manager? Yet in tech, it’s still common to promote excellent engineers into management, sometimes at the expense of their passion and strengths.

According to the Center for Creative Leadership, almost 60% of managers reported receiving no training before transitioning into their first leadership role - a gap that often leaves even skilled tech professionals unprepared for the realities of people management.

This is not just a personal issue, it’s a business one too. When companies push talented engineers into management too early or without support, they risk losing an exceptional technical contributor and gaining a disengaged manager in the process.

The technical track advantage: what you gain by staying hands-on

Choosing to stay technical is not about standing still, it’s about growing in a different, equally valuable direction. Here’s why:

• Deeper expertise = greater impact. While managers typically become generalists, experienced technical professionals become specialists. A Tech Lead Engineer with deep knowledge of distributed systems, or a Principal Developer with expertise in AI, can provide value that no general leadership skill set can easily match.
• Market value that builds over time. Specialised technical skills often command strong market value, especially in areas like cloud architecture, cybersecurity or AI. In many cases, senior technical professionals can match or exceed the compensation of management peers, while continuing to do work they love.
• Driving innovation directly. It’s often the senior engineers and architects who build tomorrow’s products. While managers facilitate and guide, technical professionals drive innovation at its source and many find this direct impact to be more fulfilling.
• Professional resilience. Deep technical expertise is harder to replace than general management skills. In times of change, companies often retain their strongest technical talent, recognising its critical importance to core products and systems.
• Work-life balance and autonomy. Technical professionals often have more control over their work and time. While managers may juggle frequent meetings and administrative demands, experienced technical staff can focus on the deep work that brings them satisfaction, with fewer distractions.

Real career paths

Modern tech organisations increasingly recognise that career growth does not have to involve managing people. Here are some roles where you can grow while staying deeply technical:

• Technical Lead Engineer: You’ll drive the technical direction of a team or project, leading architecture and design decisions and ensuring the delivery of high-quality solutions. As a Technical Lead Engineer, you can grow as a technical leader without formally managing people. While some companies may combine this role with people management, many offer Lead Engineer roles as purely technical leadership positions, allowing experienced engineers to lead technology and have a broad impact without stepping into line management.
• Principal Engineer: While Technical Lead Engineers typically focus on guiding the technical work of a project or team, Principal Engineers influence architecture and strategy across multiple teams or even the entire organisation, helping to shape long-term technical direction.
• Technical / Solutions Architect: You’ll focus on system design and technical strategy, shaping architecture that spans teams and domains, collaborating with both engineering and business stakeholders. In some companies, these two roles overlap - both involve driving the long-term technical vision and ensuring scalable, maintainable systems.
• Senior Tech Consultant: You’ll apply your specialised expertise across projects or clients, solving complex technical challenges, advising teams and contributing to innovation across multiple engagements.

Is staying technical right for you?

Not everyone is best suited to stay purely technical, just as not everyone is best suited to manage. Here are some ways to reflect:

• Do you thrive on solving complex technical challenges?

• Do you prefer focused, deep work over constant collaboration and meetings?

• Do you find more satisfaction in crafting elegant solutions than in managing team dynamics?

• Are you more energised by technical mentorship than by line management?

• Do you naturally gravitate toward advancing technical skills and knowledge?

If your answers lean toward the technical, the individual contributor tech path could be ideal for you.

Making the technical track work: strategies for growth

If you choose to stay technical, approach it with intention:

• Build your technical brand. Establish yourself as an expert in your domain. Contribute to open-source projects, write articles, share knowledge internally and keep learning.
• Engage with technical communities. Participate in industry groups, attend conferences and connect with peers. These relationships can open doors and keep your skills current.
• Commit to continuous learning. Technology evolves quickly. Make regular learning part of your routine - whether through certifications, experimenting with new tools or contributing to innovative projects.
• Choose the right company. Look for organisations that value deep technical expertise and offer clear paths for technical growth.
• Communicate your impact. Learn to articulate your technical contributions in ways that business leaders understand - connecting your work to product outcomes, client value or efficiency gains.
• Lead without managing. Even as an individual contributor, you can lead by mentoring others, driving architectural decisions and being a trusted voice in technical discussions.

When management still makes sense

For some professionals, moving into management is the right next step and that’s perfectly valid. If you’re energised by helping others succeed, enjoy shaping team culture, and are drawn to organisational strategy, management could be a natural fit.

The key is to choose your path intentionally, based on your strengths and what gives you energy, not based on outdated expectations of what "career progression" should look like.

Final thoughts

Great careers don’t all look the same. Some of the strongest contributors grow through leadership roles, others as technical experts. Both paths are equally valued.

If you’re passionate about building elegant solutions and deepening your expertise, know that staying technical is not "settling" - it’s a strategic, fulfilling choice.

And next time someone asks when you’ll "move up" to management, you can confidently say: "I’m moving forward - on the path that’s right for me".

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