Several years ago (at a now dead company) I was promoted from "hotshot product developer" position to the development team lead. I still got to write code, fix bugs, etc; but I was also in charge of the development team. Production & morale went through the roof. I loved what I was doing; and so did my team. The problem was, we (and therefore I) were so successful that upper management decided to promote me again, this time to the auspicous title of "Product Development Manager". The promotion came with a really fat (40%) raise. The money was nice, but I was miserable. I was effective as a Manager, and my team seemed to enjoy working for me. However, my skills are not those of a manager, they are those of a (hotshot) developer. My new responsibilities precluded "touching the code", that was for the developers to do. It sucked, a lot. Upper management (Directors and "C" level guys) didn't seem to give a rat's ass about the morale or conditions of the development team (March of Death Syndrome), and the development team was rapidly burning out. Eventually there came a time when a Director sent one of my junior employees to another (out of state) office that was suffering from even worse burnout / morale problems to "help out" -and I called him on it (privately of course). I was let go the next day. I have never been so relieved as I was on the drive home.