But in the end it boils down to a personal decision about what you want to do with your career and whether you want and are ready for a management position. I wasn't forced but attempted it twice and was able to successfully back away from it. I work for a small shop so they were unwilling to let me go due to my experience. The first time I found that the boss was a shitbird that I was unwilling to sell my soul to. The second time my boss was unwilling to allow me a full transformation so essentially I had a managerial and technical job at the same time (and didn't really do a great job at either). Fortunately I got a technical job back - not what I was originally doing, but interesting enough to keep me engaged and happy. What I learned: I personally am a technician and hope to remain such until retirement. You'll probably find the first years of management very unfulfilling if you enjoy systems analysis and developing code. My favorite way of explaining it: most low-level managers are shit passers: upper management has a raft for you to divide and sprinkle on your subordinates; and eventually your subordinates will give you a wad to shine up and pass back up. Neither of these activities is very fulfilling. With only 5 years of experience it sounds like you've come a long way. Bet you enjoy the thrill of accomplishment - that sense of inner satisfaction on a job well done. I was only a manager for about 2 years. Never had that feeling the whole time. So if you have an MBA; really want to be a CIO some day; and are willing to risk becoming technologically obsolete go for it. Otherwise I'd polish up the resume and start looking.