Comment by gorbachev

> I'm often the most senior, more than even the managers and CTOs, but have less power or influence and am just another cog in the machine.

I've been in this position for quite a while, but happily working at a company with a culture that encourages input from even the cogs in the machine, so I've been able to exert (limited) influence on things.

As time went by, I started getting more and more frustrated about the lack of influence I could have on formulating plans and direction, and the number of mistakes I was seeing, as you mentioned as well, and decided to, reluctantly, accept a formal leadership role, so I've now been a small team lead for a few years.

What has helped in that transition was the enormous amount of coaching and training my employer gives to new managers. I would've failed in this new role without it, and more seriously I would've failed the people/teams I manage.

Since becoming a manager, I've learned that my 20+ experience as a software engineer is quite valuable and useful for the people I manage. It's different kind of rewarding compared to software engineering work, but rewarding nevertheless. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I don't know if that's helpful for you, but if you do end up considering taking up a managerial leadership role, make sure your employer doesn't just throw you into it and ask you to learn on the job without any support. It's an absolute must.