<p>I often see in these threads the mention of doing management as an instant ticket to much more money. From what I have seen in my 20+ years of working is that positions like CTO (Chief Technology Officer) or CIO (Chief Information Officer) will make the big money. If you are at a large company (like the Lockheeds, CSC's, Northrop Grummans, etc), some of the regional VP's may bring in some money.</p>
<p>Anything under that is a lateral position between experienced grunt engineers and management. I work at a defense contractor and I often see the engineers with 15-20 years of experience go into management positions and come out of engineering positions to return to the grunt engineering. Me and my technical manager are in the same pay group. Of course, he has to help recruit and bring some business in...while my salary is justified by what I am billed out to the client(s).</p>
<p>I figured that I needed to post this because I don't want folks to think that they will go from chief engineer to technical manager and see a huge increase. Same goes for program/project managers. I have seen (hell, I am one of them) who rejoiced in going from 10-12 hour days and worrying about everyone's job to working 8 hours and worrying ONLY about my job.</p>