Should Engineering Managers Code?

I often meet people who ask if I still write code as a manager. I find that question strange because I think engineering managers just shouldn't write code by default. I wrote a Quora answer about this, which I'm republishing here.

I think software engineering managers shouldn't code at all, not unless they have small teams of =4 engineers (in which case they work as part IC and part manager)

The main job of an engineering manager is to grow their team - by hiring good engineers and by helping each existing engineer on their team become a better engineer. None of these two directly require the manager to continue writing code after transitioning to management.

On the contrary, continuing to write code can hurt people's growth. People need a lot of space/time to make mistakes and learn from them. It's important that manager doesn't even try to "decide" lower level details so that engineers feel empowered. If a manager still knows about code, it will be natural for them to think about ways to solve a problem and discuss them with people -- sometimes those ideas will be correct and sometimes they will not be, but either way, engineers will feel obligated to try them, hindering their growth.

New managers have a tendency to write code during crunch time to help the team get out of it. That's the worst time to write code -- people grow the most in crunch time. People push their limits, become better at prioritization, learn new technologies and skills, develop good working relationships with people and most of all, feel proud of their work and themselves (which is further important for their general engagement). Jumping in during crunch time will save the day but will never set the team on a path of growth.

It's important that engineering managers have software engineering background and have the ability to get their hands dirty if required. But continuing to write code regularly or writing code during crunch times actually hurts the team in the long run.