Said Out Loud ·
You want the title. Not the job.
What people usually say instead: “I'm ready for the next step.”
The short answer
You really want to be a manager if you want the work, not just the title. The work is mostly other people: their problems, their growth, their bad weeks. You'll do less of the craft you're good at. If helping other people do well sounds like the job you want, it's worth trying.
Drafted with AI for Coach42 · coach review pending · 3 min read
The scene
It's your annual review. Your manager asks where you see yourself in two years, and you say 'leading a team' before she's finished the question. Driving home, you try to name one thing a manager does on a Tuesday that you'd enjoy. You get as far as 'the meetings, I suppose'.
Do you really want to be a manager?
You do if you want the job. You might not if you mostly want what comes with it. Those are different things. The title can bring a bigger say, more pay and a new line on your profile. The job brings other people's problems, all day, and less time for the work you're good at.
So ask yourself a plain question. If the role came with no new title and no pay rise, would you still want it? If the honest answer is no, it's the title you're after.
There's no shame in that answer. It just points somewhere else. Wanting to be seen, trusted and paid well is fair. Managing people is one way to get those things, and a hard one if you don't like the work that comes with it.
The title is what you picture. The job is what fills your week.
What does the job look like on a normal week?
Less doing, more helping others do. Your best days used to be the ones where you shipped something. As a manager, a good day is one where someone else shipped it, and you mostly cleared the way.
A lot of the week is talk. One-to-ones, hard conversations, hiring, chasing, explaining a decision you didn't make. Your wins get slower and harder to point at. When the team does well, the credit is theirs. When it doesn't, the blame is yours.
Our post on what to know before becoming a manager goes through the first months in more detail.
Why does the next step always mean managing?
We think it's because it's the ladder people can see. You're good at your job, so you go up, and up means people. We'd bet nobody stops to ask if you wanted people.
That's a weak reason to take the job, and in our experience a common one. There are other ways to grow: deeper skill, bigger problems, leading work without leading people. Some companies have a senior path for experts. Ask if yours does before you assume it doesn't.
If you're still weighing it, our post on going from individual contributor to manager is honest about the trade. The Career Compass self-test helps you think through which way you lean.
What happens if you take it for the title?
Your team will feel it before you do. They'll notice you'd rather be doing the work than helping them do it. You'll grab the interesting tasks, and they'll get the leftovers. Within a year, you could be a stressed manager and a bored expert at the same time.
If you want the job, go for it with your eyes open. If you want the title, say so to yourself, then find out whether there's a way to grow that doesn't cost you the work you love.
The picture
The cost
A team of five stuck with a manager who'd rather be one of them, and a strong expert who stopped doing the work that made them strong.
Try on Monday
Write down three things a manager on your team did last week. Next to each one, write yes or no: would you enjoy doing that every week? Count the yeses.
The mirror
The mirror
Answer it for an ordinary week. Your answer stays in this browser.
- Take Career Compass: whether the manager track or the expert track suits you.
- More for Stepping up
- The 42 Test, for the full picture of how you lead
Questions people ask
- Is it bad to want the title?
- No. Wanting to be seen and paid fairly is reasonable. Just be honest that it's the title you want, so you can look for other ways to get it.
- Can I try managing and go back?
- Ask before you say yes. People do move back, and it isn't a failure. Find out how your company handles it so the door isn't a surprise later.
- How do I know if I'd be good at it?
- Look at what you already do. Do people come to you for help? Do you enjoy it when they get better? Those are better signs than being the best at the work.
Signed
Drafted with AI for Coach42 · coach review pending.
Scenes are composites; names are made up.
Sources
No figures in this column: everything here is opinion or a made-up scene.