I've hit mid-40s and I'm still a happy individual contributor. So you aren't necessarily doomed to a management role, and you shouldn't rush into it if that's not what you want.

I've always told myself that I'll code until I can't keep up. So far that hasn't happened. Once it does, I will happily transition to more of a management role to be of the greatest value that I can. Along the way (and even now), though, I've had a good number of management-like responsibilities which will help a lot. So, I encourage you to take advantage of those opportunities as they come along. There isn't a bright, hard line between management and individual contribution. There is a space between.

A good manager will look out for your career path and help you get to management, if that's what you want.

I think there's something to a good manager's experience in working with those in their 40's, 50's, and beyond. The problem is that experience is usually going to be less the higher that number gets, and you're potentially dealing with more difficult career moves because the experience level is increasing all the while. I do wonder if that fact has something to do with the "aging out" we see.

The trick is to be in a growing company where new management seats are materializing by the day. Then your manager will be delighted for the help as his number of directs grows beyond what one person can reasonably keep track of.

You have options...

Join a rapidly growing organisation and help other people to do their jobs better. You will be a manager before you know it.

Alternatively move company and apply to be a manager and probably say you had more management experience than you really do. I'm sure at 35 you've had to coach some people to be better and do interviews, these can be highlighted.

Do not tell your boss you want his job/to be a manager because anything you ever do that makes her feel threatened from then on will be noted and used against you. People move companies to gain good promotions for a reason.

> apply to be a manager and probably say you had more management experience than you really do.

That's not great advice. Don't lie to get a job.

> Do not tell your boss you want his job/to be a manager

Every company I've worked at has needed more great engineering managers. There's more than enough work, and anyone who says "I want to help" is my hero.

Where I work, when engineers say they want to become managers, we give them gently escalating management responsibilities, enroll them in management training, and give them a mentor for guidance. And later we check to make sure it's still something they want -- it's truly a different job, so they should be able to say "not for me" and go back to being an IC.

I think this very much depends on the organization. Many managers are political creatures who view any desire by ICs to move up the non-technical ladder as a direct threat to them. Take the anecdote for what it is, but I've experienced that personally, and have had friends who have as well. It doesn't necessarily end well. In my case, I started seriously considering a constructive termination suit until I finally found alternate employment (it took almost three months--I wasn't in the Bay Area at the time).

My current employer is more like what you describe, however, and I'm thankful for it.

> Every company I've worked at has needed more great engineering managers.

Has every company you've worked at been successful or at least rapidly growing? There's plenty of cake to go around in a company doubling in size every year, but the daggers come out when there are layoffs twice a year, particularly when the people being laid off aren't SV software engineers with tons of other options.

> That's not great advice. Don't lie to get a job.

It wasn't advice. I was saying it is one of the ways I've seen people transition into management. Interestingly, the way you said management training happens at your company, I've never seen that happen anywhere, so it sounds like a fantastic place to work. How many people who have been through the management program now have a team?

Wow that's smart and awesome. What company does this?

>"Do not tell your boss you want his job/to be a manager because anything you ever do that makes her feel threatened from then on will be noted and used against you. People move companies to gain good promotions for a reason."

I don't entirely think that piece of advice applies if your manager/boss is ambitious. If they're ambitious, then they're most certainly looking for their own replacement. Heck, someone that can in the interim do their tasks while they focus on "moving up".

I started by taking responsibilities for small teams and discrete portions of projects. From there, responsibilities expanded. Now I run a team of around 100 and focus most of my day on admin and training instead of actually creating work product. I like the role, but it's not for everyone. Managing is great when things are good, but can quickly get tough when things aren't.

Don't tell your boss you want their job. Tell them you'd like to have an opportunity to contribute in a greater capacity and how you can do that. If there's something specific that thrills you, ask to do that. Put 100% into making sure that thing gets done well.

Depends on your relationship with them.

I think it's normal and professional to have a conversation along the lines of "I'd like to start getting experience managing people, do you think there'd be a chance for me to do that?". If they're threatened by that conversation, I wouldn't want to work for them frankly.

The reality is there's a lot of older coders out there, I think it matters more what you _want_ to do.

This depends very much on the engineering and leadership culture and your manager's view. Also company size matters. Managers are necessarily fewer in number than individual contributors. If the organization isn't big enough there might not be room now. There might be in the future, though, so it may not hurt to make your desire known.

LEAD your Junior Engineers and MANAGE http://www.netmba.com/