Don't mind me while I dear diary and do some internal reflection. I just spent the last 6 years as a technical lead for the first time, I was given nothing but fresh college new hires thanks a previous round of voluntary layoffs that saw nearly all of our experienced personnel walk out. I had to sit and train each of these extremely bright engineers while fending off upper management from schedule pressure. I would take the lickings during earned value meetings and did my best not to flow that frustration onto the team. Their job was hard enough as it was. Didn't want them to feel the weight of the program on their shoulders. Every one of them became rockstars and other programs outside of mine would seek them out for help.

In the past six years, I've taken 2 vacations…which I took my work laptop/phone and was basically on call when someone needed me. I missed several wedding anniversaries due to work travel. And I'll be honest, my marriage took a beating. I suppose that's what happens when you aren't taking weekends off (okay, I take sundays off) for years.

My program has been wildly successful. We've always been the black sheep of the company, but now we are about to become top dog. My team carried the program across the finish line. I've lost count of the number of potential program ending technical issues that came up that my team solved single handedly. I carried much of that weight personally and never told the team just how difficult their work actually was. Figured it was better if they didn't know they were working the impossible. Seeing us overcome all these issues has been the second most rewarding thing I've ever done. The most rewarding thing has been to see my guys grow into the engineers they are today.

And I've decided to walk away from it, move out of town, and take up an analyst job. No workers under me. No programmatic responsibilities. I get to move out of state and closer to my family. The last 6 years were the best years of my carrier. I proved myself capable in ways I never thought before. It honestly feels like I'm going into witness protection. My new team has no idea what I just did. And probably never will. What happens now?

TLDR:
I'm burnt the **** out and need something new. I'm hoping taking a break from the high pressure job duties will re-invigorate me, but I'm worried about what that will mean for my career in the future.

I cannot speak to your specific situation with personal experience, but I want to say props to doing something a lot of people don't (or won't) do to better their personal lives. I genuinely think having that kind of courage and self-awareness works out for people in the long run.

I've had my fill of California. I intend to leave and never look back. Living in this state during Covid was pretty unbearable. Now during record inflation, they are going to raise gas prices through taxation. During one of the worst droughts in hundreds of years, they just rejected plans to build a desalination plant that would largely solve that problem. The politics are just mind boggling and definitely a part of my desire to move.

That's the problem with taking a sabbatical. If I could keep the role in a different state, that would be something else.

No step back in comp or level. I wouldn't call myself an engineering manager either. More of a technical lead who watches the young guys/gals push the buttons. That said, I'll be doing stress and vibration work.

I found the job through my company's internal job site. In the interview. I told them I would not accept a reduction in pay. Got the offer the following day.

Philip J Fry said:

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No step back in comp or level. I wouldn't call myself an engineering manager either. More of a technical lead who watches the young guys/gals push the buttons. That said, I'll be doing stress and vibration work.

I found the job through my company's internal job site. In the interview. I told them I would not accept a reduction in pay. Got the offer the following day.

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Sounds like a win-win all around.

There's a lot of nonsense BS you have to put up with when you're a manager/lead. It's a lot less stressful only having to worry about any given task at a time rather than worrying about a huge litany of tasks, keeping your underlings efficiently occupied, and having to navigate both the political BS of those that make decisions up the chain and delegate down the chain.

And unfortunately most megacorps do not compensate for all the stress of being a manager/lead. While I am still going to be in a lead position, I have turned down management positions for better quality of life and will possibly be moving away for a full time remote position as well.