Management path vs individual contributor — how I made the wrong choice and then fixed it

Faced this at year 5. Took the management path because it felt like the logical next step — not because I wanted to develop people.

I was miserable within 8 months. Not because I was bad at management — I was adequate. But I missed deep technical work, found performance management draining, and resented the endless coordination.

What I should have asked before accepting:
- Do I genuinely get energy from developing other people?
- Am I willing to make their success my primary output?
- Does my company have a real IC career ladder, or is management the only path?

I eventually moved to a company with a genuine staff engineer track. More pay than a manager, primary focus on technical work, influence through expertise not authority. Some companies in Malaysia offer this — mostly in tech.

Know yourself before you take the role.