Did those of you who were programmers but moved into other areas (e.g., PM, CEO, management) keep up with your coding skills? If so, why and how? Was it to keep your options open?

smartlike
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I dropped it entirely after almost a decade in software engineering to pivot to general management (C-level roles). Just depends on your career aspirations.

If you’re looking for a life in the executive world, your former superpower just isn’t valuable short of having more sophisticated Excel macros than your peers. You’ll find you need the headspace for a lot of other stuff you never had to worry about in coding (legal, finance, etc). Even if you’re holding VP level technical leadership roles, you’ll primarily lean on your experience to evaluate architecture and strategic direction.

Don’t be the boss that does pull requests unless your job is to do pull requests. Stay “industry current” for sure, but you won’t need to keep your arsenal of deep coding skills IMO.

like

Good question OP. I did a mix of both. I enhanced my management skills through professional development opportunities both in and out of the workplace and I made sure to have mini coding projects on the side or small freelancing gigs so that I kept my coding skills sharp. It really is like a language. It's a "use it or lose it" type of situation! I didn't do it to keep options open as much as I don't want all those years of hard work to go down the drain.

helpfullike

Unfortunately not for the most part. I learned new business type of programming skills like Tableau & Salesforce but focused more on learning Agile & things for the next job I wanted. I wish I had more time to have kept up but at some point I lost what would even be relevant to learn. I did stay sharp with my SQL skills because I feel it is important to be able to go after your own data no matter what you do in your career. I’m a PO/PM now.

likesmart

I've moved away from it for a considerable time, but I do try to keep with SQL and Tableau because I feel like I'll inevitably need it for whatever reason - also keeps the door open for freelance/side projects as another income stream if need be

I am a PM now and absolutely try to keep up with my skills. It makes me better at my job and it gains respect from engineering teams. I also do indeed want to keep my options open. Love being a PM, but I also miss some things about programming and it would be so silly to just waste away with all my background if I want to come back.

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