[Tishabet]

I was a full time developer/architect from 2001-2007, then tech management 2007-2010, then slipped back into a partially hands on role 2010-2012 and now I'm a technical program manager. While I do miss the rolling up the sleeves aspect of dev work, there was never any question in my mind that I would not be a dev for the rest of my life and overall I am pleased where I have landed.

I still get to work with the devs all day long but as a collaborato... I no longer have to deal with keeping up to date on the latest languages and the headaches of source control and stuff like that. It helps that I work at a technology driven company where my role is both common and respected, the same type of position in my old industry (financial services) would be a lot more thankless. Personally, I think this type of role plays far more to my natural strengths (problem solving, understanding complex systems and processes, straddling the business and tech worlds) whereas as a dev I was using a learned skill set... I was good at what I did but not because it came naturally.