Why your boss doesn't seem to care about your tech career anymore

The fast pace of AI and overseeing bigger teams means managers don't always have as much time for things like career coaching.

Maskot/Getty Images These days, tech managers are often juggling bigger teams and coding work themselves.

That can leave less one-on-one time for career coaching with direct reports.

"It's not managing the human, it's managing the work," said one CEO.

"And it's much more sink or swim." If you work in tech, your manager might still care about your career.

They just might not have enough time to do much about it.

Across tech, the Great Flattening has meant fewer managers overseeing larger teams and racing to keep up as the industry remakes itself around AI.

The result can be less time for managerial work that doesn't produce an immediately visible result: coaching employees to help them figure out where their careers are going.

The days of "purely pastoral managers" running teams of five or six are over, said Paddy Lambros, founder and CEO of Dex, which uses AI to connect software engineers with employers.

At the same time, he said, managers are increasingly coding themselves, and the intense pace of work can make their relationships with employees more about getting work done and less about long-term development .

"It's much more tactical and transactional," Lambros said.

"It's not managing the human, it's managing the work.

And it's much more sink or swim." Managers are back on the field Mitchell Kosowski knows that pressure firsthand.

The software engineering manager at a tech startup said he has about 20 people reporting to him, spends about five hours a day in meetings, and is also expected to code.