Stay Technical at Senior Levels
Tech Lead
Your calendar is meetings. Your credibility is code. Protect 20% hands-on time. Use it for the hard stuff — the stuff that proves you still can.
Software Arch
Architecture credibility comes from good decisions and deep questions, not line count. Stay sharp by reviewing, designing, and occasionally implementing.
Eng Manager
You're not expected to code 40 hrs. You're expected to understand enough to make good calls. Code reviews, design input, and spikes keep you sharp.
Stay Technical at Senior Levels
TL;DR
- Senior engineers don't code 40 hours a week. But they can't afford to go fully abstract. Credibility requires some hands-on.
- Protect 20% coding time. Use it for the hard problems — the ones that prove you still understand the stack.
- AI helps: you can stay "hands-on" with less time. Use it to maintain technical relevance without sacrificing leadership work.
Yuki's calendar is back-to-back. Finding 30 minutes to code feels impossible. But if she goes too long without touching the codebase, her technical opinions lose weight. The balance is hard. Here's how.
The Credibility Equation
Technical credibility = recent, relevant hands-on experience. Not "I used to code." Not "I read about it." Actually doing it — recently.
You don't need 40 hours. You need enough to:
- Ask the right questions in design reviews
- Spot when someone's solution is wrong
- Stay current with your stack's evolution
20% is a target. One focused day a week. Or two half-days. Guard it.
What to Code
- The hard stuff: The problems your team struggles with. The edge cases. The "nobody wants to touch this" code. That's where your seniority shows.
- Spikes and prototypes: Quick explorations. "Can we do X?" You run the experiment. You report back. You stay sharp.
- Code reviews: Reviewing is technical. You're reading code, judging quality, suggesting improvements. It counts. Do it well.
AI as a Time Multiplier
Use AI for the boring parts. Boilerplate, refactors, test generation. That frees your limited coding time for the interesting parts — the architecture, the debugging, the "this is tricky" work. You maintain relevance with less raw hours.
Quick Check
Yuki's calendar is back-to-back. She barely codes. But her technical opinions need weight. What's the right balance?
Your calendar is meetings. You haven't touched the codebase in months. Your technical opinions feel hollow. 'I used to code' — but when?
Click "Staying technical" to see the difference →
Do This Next
- Block 4 hours this week for hands-on technical work. Something that requires you to think, not just meet. Protect it.
- Pick one "hard" technical problem your team faces. Own a spike or a proof-of-concept. Report back. You'll feel sharper. Others will notice.