Comment Talented managers (Score 2) 125
In order to be a successful manager of a development or I.T team, you need to have an outstanding track record of making the right decision, foreseeing when other decisions will cause problems down the road, be a good judge of character, and have the ability to work with (or deal with) personalities that normally would drive you crazy. These are things that you can't really accomplish in a few years.
Just like auto-dealerships should never promote their best salesman to management, software companies should never promote their best developers to management. Most of them will be miserable anyways.
There's a certain type of developer that makes a great manager. But they are few and far between.
Also, the few very talented developers make more than their managers do anyways.