> identifying and executing on whatever is highest value that you have the skills for
There's a hidden assumption there though, that you CAN actually do that. At least management skills mostly stick over time but even a year away from hands on technical work is going to leave you likely stranded and unable to execute on the technical aspects. Which is why I continue to push back against suggestions technical managers shouldn't be engaged hands on. Apart from being incredibly hostile to their own interests (it will be central to you getting hired to any future role), it also impairs one of the most strategic aspects of the role which can drastically affect the value you can deliver internally in the future as well.
> but even a year away from hands on technical work is going to leave you likely stranded and unable to execute on the technical aspects
This is an interesting myth, but certainly a myth. I guess if we consider technical skill to be intimate knowledge of the latest fad framework, that might be one source of the myth. But that's not technical skills, just trivia about an implementation detail.
The fundamentals like networking, process and memory management, databases and SQL, all change slowly and are very long-lived career-spanning knowledge.
Agreed, I haven’t seen this in my career at least. I’ve worked with contractors on a yearly basis who would take some time off and then hit the ground running.
If there’s any data supporting the opposite, I’d love to see it.
If people think that not being hands-on for a year is unmanageable, then we as an industry are doing something horrifically wrong.
It would mean that no engineer could ever aspire to become a parent, take a sabbatical, further their education, or experiment with alternate career paths.
But I promise you that that is not actually the case. In fact, it is often the engineers who've stifled every other part of their life that are most likely to struggle in their mid-careers and beyond.
There's a hidden assumption there though, that you CAN actually do that. At least management skills mostly stick over time but even a year away from hands on technical work is going to leave you likely stranded and unable to execute on the technical aspects. Which is why I continue to push back against suggestions technical managers shouldn't be engaged hands on. Apart from being incredibly hostile to their own interests (it will be central to you getting hired to any future role), it also impairs one of the most strategic aspects of the role which can drastically affect the value you can deliver internally in the future as well.