--- title: Engineering managers are back in the codebase | daily.dev description: A growing share of engineering managers are returning to hands-on coding, with AI lowering the barrier back into the codebase. Data shows EM hands-on work... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/engineering-managers-are-back-in-the-codebase-8ihdposaz twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Engineering managers are back in the codebase | daily.dev og:description: A growing share of engineering managers are returning to hands-on coding, with AI lowering the barrier back into the codebase. Data shows EM hands-on work... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/engineering-managers-are-back-in-the-codebase-8ihdposaz og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/8IHDPosAz.png og:image:alt: Engineering managers are back in the codebase og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Engineering managers are back in the codebase **[LeadDev](https://daily.dev/sources/leaddev)** · 1 min read · 4 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A growing share of engineering managers are returning to hands-on coding, with AI lowering the barrier back into the codebase. Data shows EM hands-on work jumped from 20% to 35% in 12 months. The 'player-coach' model predicted in 2024 is now a reality across leadership levels. Notably, Mark Zuckerberg returned to coding after a 20-year break, spending up to 10 hours a week writing code at Meta's AI lab. Despite this shift, the core EM role and responsibilities haven't fundamentally changed. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How much has engineering manager hands-on coding increased recently? Engineering manager hands-on work jumped from 20% to 35% in 12 months, a shift attributed largely to AI lowering the barrier back into the codebase. The 'player-coach' model predicted for engineering leadership has become a reality across every leadership level, though the core EM role itself is described as unchanged. _Engineering managers navigating the coding-vs-managing balance find relevant perspectives on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Engineering managers have a new job description](https://daily.dev/posts/engineering-managers-have-a-new-job-description-8idlxm623) · LeadDev · 8 upvotes · 1 comments - [The death and revival of the hands-on Engineering Manager](https://daily.dev/posts/the-death-and-revival-of-the-hands-on-engineering-manager-zzd2j1juj) · Manager.dev · 81 upvotes · 11 comments - [Demand for engineering managers is surging in the agentic coding era](https://daily.dev/posts/demand-for-engineering-managers-is-surging-in-the-agentic-coding-era-kjxidxvyf) · LeadDev · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Should managers become hands-on again?](https://daily.dev/posts/should-managers-become-hands-on-again--iyhdsoyns) · Tech Lead Digest · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#leadership](https://daily.dev/tags/leadership), [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/engineering-managers-are-back-in-the-codebase-8ihdposaz) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Engineering managers are back in the codebase","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/engineering-managers-are-back-in-the-codebase-8ihdposaz","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/engineering-managers-are-back-in-the-codebase-8ihdposaz"},"datePublished":"2026-08-10T07:40:04.272Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:29:29.690Z","description":"A growing share of engineering managers are returning to hands-on coding, with AI lowering the barrier back into the codebase. 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