"So, you've been a developer for yonks, and you've just realised that you'll carry on being a developer for ever unless you get promoted (or fired). The obvious career path seems to be project management, then department management, then manager management (a few times), and finally director. But good developers don't necessarily make good managers. I know this, because I've worked for a couple. Most developers don't seem to want to be managers anyway, so what else is there?"