Do whatever makes you happiest, unless you badly need extra money. Remember that promotion may also bring extra responsibility, and perhaps make inroads into your free time. And above all, if it means managing staff, that can bring a whole new set of headaches!

When it comes to decisions like this, I trust my gut instincts. I went for a promotion almost 4 years ago and it's the best decision I ever made career wise.

Bravo! You’re living the life YOU choose instead of the one everyone ELSE says we should. More like people should follow your lead..

PS - I’ve turned down managing people. Why would I do that? Take on the extra time and stress for a little more money? A big nope.

you shouldnt do anything if your happy where you are. it doesnt matter what anyone else thins one bit

No

Hmm... That's interesting... I've never been in a position like that... But to me, family is most important... That's seems true for you as well... Good luck with your decision

About 4 years ago, I had a job offer for a IT director level position at a local academic hospital - a position to build a small team into a large team from the ground up.

I turned it down for a contracting job -- because that job allowed me to work from home. At that time in my life, my second marriage was falling apart, and I had two teenagers + an 11 year old + a twentysomething that all needed my time (teenagers especially). I made a decision to go with the contracting job because of the flexibility it allowed - Dad was at home all the time, and there were some rough teenage years involved.

Now I am down the last kid in the house - the older three have launched and scattered to the four winds. Right now, I wished I had the job I turned down, but I realistically would not have had the time to devote to the job to do it right at first. So I'm looking for more work now, and those senior positions are hard to find...

But at the time, it was the right decision for me and my situation.

Do what you heart tells you. Those other things could make the difference between enjoying life and a hard job you have to slog through - but with more $$. A tough decision sometimes!

I have been doing database programming for almost 20 years and I have declined requests to move into the manager area twice and I have no regrets over doing that.