I was an engineering manager, but I am now more of a co-manager, because I suck at managing difficult engineers. Our business is small and we asked our product manager to help manage engineers too. She is not technical, but is great at managing people.
I now write software, assign tasks, hire and sometimes fire people too. But I don't do the hard stuff of managing people, doing their reviews, encouraging and coaching them and giving them a shoulder to cry on. I know my limits.
I love this arrangement. Sharing a role works well if you can find someone who is good at what you suck at.
That sounds like more of a tech lead role than EM. Nothing wrong with that, it's good that you found a way to balance it.
If you want to continue on the manager path, I'd suggest leaning into that area of weakness and trying to improve it as much as you can. At Director+ levels, these skills are non-negotiable.
I now write software, assign tasks, hire and sometimes fire people too. But I don't do the hard stuff of managing people, doing their reviews, encouraging and coaching them and giving them a shoulder to cry on. I know my limits.
I love this arrangement. Sharing a role works well if you can find someone who is good at what you suck at.