When engineers step into management, one of the biggest questions they wrestle with is:
"How do I stay technical without being in the code every day?"

It’s a real fear, that you'll drift too far from the craft that got you here. But the truth is, staying technical as a manager is not about clinging to code. It’s about evolving your technical engagement to match your new responsibilities, particularly as architectural guidance replaces direct execution, a shift I examine in Guiding Architecture Without Being the Architect.

Here’s how you can let go of coding without losing your edge.

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Redefining “Technical”

Being technical as an EM doesn’t mean pushing PRs every week. Instead, it means:

• Thinking in systems and architecture, not just functions and files.
• Spotting design flaws and guiding tradeoff conversations.
• Understanding where your team's time is going, and why.
• Coaching engineers to think more deeply, not solving it for them.

You’re shifting from being the doer to being the multiplier. That doesn’t mean you're less technical, just technical in a different way.

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Ways to Stay Close Without Being the Bottleneck

You can stay plugged in without being on the critical path:

• Participate in design reviews: Ask good questions, challenge assumptions, and model system level thinking.
• Read PRs periodically: Not to nitpick, but to understand patterns and gaps.
• Pair program occasionally: This builds connection, reveals friction points, and shows you still care about the code.
• Keep up with your team’s stack: Try out new tools or experiment with internal systems in a sandboxed way.

These actions keep your instincts sharp and your team confident in your technical presence, without you being a dependency.

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Set Boundaries Around Coding

If you do code, be mindful:

✅ Do

• Fix a one off, non blocking bug
• Contribute to internal tooling or cleanup tasks
• Work on personal side projects to stay sharp
• Spike on prototypes to explore ideas (then hand off)

🚫 Don’t

• Take on critical features
• Own production code on the critical path
• Commit to timelines that compete with your real job: leading

Coding should energize you, not stress your team. If you’re consistently pulled to write code, ask yourself: Are you avoiding the hard parts of management?

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Technical Leadership is Still Leadership

Remember, staying technical isn’t about proving you can code. It’s about bringing clarity to complexity.

• Can you identify the right abstraction?
• Can you lead through ambiguity?
• Can you guide teams through tradeoffs?

Those skills are deeply technical, and often more valuable than writing the code yourself.

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Final Thoughts

Letting go doesn’t mean letting down your technical bar. It means raising your altitude and shifting your impact.

Staying technical as a manager is possible, but it requires a mindset shift. You’re not here to be the smartest coder in the room. You’re here to make everyone else better.

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Still figuring out how to balance coding and leadership? I’d love to hear your experience, drop a comment or reach out.