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Decide whether you want to manage people
A simple exercise to choose between managing people and growing as an individual contributor, for now rather than forever
Why it’s worth your time
Managing people is a different job, not the next step of the one you have, and plenty of people build a great career without ever taking it. Sketching a real week on each path, and hearing from someone who lives each one, shows you what you'd gain and what you'd give up. Deciding for now, not forever, takes most of the pressure out.
How to decide whether to become a manager
You’ll come away with an answer for now, your reasons for it, and a date to look again.
We’ll send you a calendar invite.
- Write down what's pulling you toward managing.
All of it, including the reasons you wouldn't say out loud: the pay, the title, that it seems expected, that you love helping people grow, that you'd like more say. The reasons decide which path would actually give you what you're after. Fill in the first box now; the others follow the steps below.
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- Sketch a real week on each path.
As a manager: one-on-ones, hiring, other people's problems, decisions made through others, less time hands-on. As a senior individual contributor: deeper work, harder problems, influence through expertise, often mentoring without being anyone's boss. Mark what you'd look forward to and what you'd dread.
- Talk to one person on each path about their actual week.
Someone a few years into managing, and someone senior who doesn't manage, ideally at your company. Ask about last week, not about the job in general; the specifics are where the answer is.
You“What did your week actually look like? Which parts did you enjoy, and which did you just get through?” - Find out what growing without reports looks like here.
Some companies have senior individual roles with real pay and influence; others mostly grow people through management. Ask your manager, framed as planning.
You“When someone here grows without managing people, what does that look like? I'm trying to understand both paths before I decide.” - Decide for now, and pick a date to look again.
Write your answer, the main reason for it, and when you'll revisit. A year is a reasonable stretch, or sooner if a real opening comes up.
Good moments for this: when someone asks if you want to managewhen a management role opens uponce a year
We’ll send you a calendar invite.
Keep going with Truest
Small actions add up. Truest helps you find the next thing worth doing, make the space to do it, and keep a record of your progress. It’s a private place to work on your career, and it’s yours, not your employer’s.
- It actually happensWe’ll put it on your calendar and remind you before it starts.
- The longer sessionCareer Compass is the guided session for working out what you want next.
- It’s yours to keepEach thing you do is saved to your private record, there when your next review or job search comes around.
Anything else we can help you with this week?
Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
A team needs someone who wants the job. Taking it reluctantly is hard on you and harder on them, and not yet can be the kind answer.
What might make this harder
Ask what problem they're solving, such as a team that's grown or a gap they need filled. Then say honestly where you are, and offer the part you'd genuinely enjoy, like mentoring or leading a project.
Questions people ask
Should I become a manager or stay an individual contributor?
It depends on what you want your days to be. Managers spend most of their time on people and on decisions carried out through others; senior individual contributors go deeper into the work itself. Talking to someone on each path helps.
Can I move up without managing people?
At many companies, yes, through senior individual roles such as staff or principal positions. How well those are paid and respected varies by company, so it's worth asking how it works where you are.
Is it okay to turn down a management role?
Yes. Saying why, and what you'd like to grow in instead, usually lands better than a plain no. A team is better served by a manager who wants the job.
Can you go back to individual work after being a manager?
Yes, and plenty of people do, sometimes more than once. Time spent managing often makes people better individual contributors, and the reverse.
Why this works, and where it comes from
In many companies the most visible way up runs through management, so after a few good years the question arrives as an assumption. People ask when you'll start managing, not whether you want to, and saying no can feel like stepping off the ladder. The question worth answering first is whether, and you're the only one who can answer it.
The job itself is different from how it looks from outside. A manager's days go to conversations, other people's growth, hiring, and decisions that happen through other people's hands. The satisfaction is real, but it arrives slower and secondhand, when someone you supported does something great. A senior individual contributor's days go deeper into the work: harder problems, influence that comes from expertise, often mentoring without being responsible for anyone's review. Neither is the bigger job. They suit different people, and sometimes the same person at different times.
Charity Majors, an engineering leader who writes often about this choice, makes two points worth borrowing. In 17 Reasons NOT To Be A Manager, she lists what the job costs, from slower, less certain rewards to a calendar that stops being yours, and suggests learning it the way you'd learn a new career. In The Engineer/Manager Pendulum, she argues that moving back and forth between the two over a career can make you better at both. That's why deciding for now is enough: whatever you choose this year, you can usually change course later.
This isn't the right exercise if the real pull is getting away from your current manager or team. Becoming the manager rarely fixes a team you're unhappy on, and the worksheet will point you at the wrong answer. Deal with that first, by raising it or by looking at other teams, and come back to this question once it's about the work you want to do.
Other simple things to consider
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Written by Truest, similar to 17 Reasons NOT To Be A Manager (Charity Majors (2019)) and The Engineer/Manager Pendulum (Charity Majors (2017)). Last updated October 29, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.