Why you should sometimes aim at lower positions in IT, even if you seek a high salary

The necessity of holding leadership and managerial positions to grow in IT is overrated.

The narrative saying we should become “the boss” to succeed made me take responsibilities I didn’t want early in my career. I like (always liked) programming and creating, instead of spending hours in useless meetings and responding for things I can’t control. However, after acquiring some years of experience, I realized I didn’t need to be a manager to earn money or respect.

If you are seduced by escalating the corporative ladder only for status but prefer to execute lower-level activities, then this post will give you tools to rethink it.

Benefits of Lower Positions

First of all, when I say “Lower Position,” I mean that you are part of a team but not the responsible for its output. You may be the most experienced analyst or the technical referent of the team, but have no hierarchical advantage over your colleagues.

I’ve been the technical referent of my teams for a significant portion of my career. These are the benefits:

• You receive the most complex and exciting technical challenges.
• Your voice is heard.
• Whenever a new technology or opportunity appears, you are the first one to whom they offer.
• You work on the most significant projects for the company.
• You guide and help less experienced team members.

As you can see, there are plenty of opportunities to learn and grow, even in lower-level positions.

Once you ascend within your company and become responsible for the team, you face some new challenges.

Challenges of Higher Positions

If you are a good programmer and become a manager, you will face some difficulties:

• You are not only responsible for your activities but also your team’s performance.
• You seldom choose your team.
• Your resources are limited, and you can’t pay your team what you think they deserve.
• You need to deal with psychology when you like to program.
• The pressure for delivering is high.

I think you got my point: The picture of the happy, relaxed boss in his corner office is more a utopia than a reality. There is nothing fancy in today’s IT management positions.

But yes… I can hear you:

What about the money?

The claim that higher positions make more money is valid. We are not going to object to that.

However, is the difference worth doing a job you don’t enjoy every day? In my experience, it isn’t.

Suppose you want to earn more, but don’t want to take on managerial responsibilities. Then, you have these alternatives to give you a raise:

• Work in a smaller company. They work with better margins so that they can pay you more.
• Work in the IT area of the client instead of a consultancy; then, you eliminate intermediaries.
• Freelance. Although less stable, you earn more than as an employee.

As you can see, money alone is not enough reason to take on a higher role. Therefore, escalation is appropriate in some other situations.

When to escalate?

The best moments to seek higher positions are when:

• You want to develop leadership skills.
• You want to go high in your career (director or above), so the mid management is a mandatory step to achieve it.
• You feel tired or bored about development, or want to experience a different position.

IT careers are highly dynamic. You can act as a developer in a project, a manager in the next one, and come back to programming in your next project.

Conclusion

Mid-manager positions are stressful in IT.

There are many reasons to go for them, but making money is not a good one.

You can work as a developer, earning even more money and respect than your immediate superior.