My brief comments - management is a discipline, a specialisation just like most other fields of work. We can accept that understanding data modelling, data base design and all that is a different skill set to being a Unix kernel hacker - but not that many developers understand that management is a distinct skill. Give me a good manager any day. If they have also the technical backround, then that is a bonus.

I am a middle level IT manager - reporting to the IS manager or an organisation - and I have always made it a point to get the best technical people I can working for me. They know more than I ever did about their fields of specialisation - but I know (at least I hope I do) how to get the best out of them, to make sure they are working towards the business goals of the organisation, and that they understand why things are being done (or not done). Can I rebuild a Netware server install? Nope. Can I transfer an Informix database from one machine to another? Nope. Can they run rings around me technically? Sure can.

The Dilbert stereotype of the "pointy haired boss" would be just as incompetent as a manager if he could write Perl code like the best of the people here.

Note: Thanks to dws for pointing out spelung erorz.