+1 - I had a discussion with one of my directs today as they were considering becoming an SDM. There are so many days as a manager where every moment of my time is filled with meetings and admin tasks and at the end of the day you feel like to accomplished nothing. Where as with coding you can feel like you built something and have something to show for your hours of time. I certainly miss being an IC, more and more each day..
You might individually feel like you've done nothing, but if tending to admin tasks enables your ICs to just focus on getting work done --without distraction-- you're actually a multiplying force within your organization.
