Problem solving keeps the mind sharp and if you are like me then it makes you happy. But what if you went from coding up to Team Lead and then to Project Manager?

I have a team of 12 and on a good salary but lately have been thinking that the politics and admin tasks of being middle level management in an Investment Bank is not the right path to happiness. I used to be able to design and code as well as manage but lately it's all budgets, admin tasks and people problems. At 39 is it too late to go be a senior developer again?

Basically - Team Lead in a flat structure with good people rocks. But if half your team is offshore then it loses something - There's a lot of politics in Project Management and so many meetings that even if you want to code you start letting your team down by missing deadlines and only suited for small units of work

The coding skills haven't gone so to pick up WCF services it just takes a bit of reading and then playing around.

I reckon I could switch to a Hedge Fund and go back to developing and be far happier and get more money. My 2 doubts though are 1. Mid life crisis in that I'd get bored with coding again 2. Or maybe I'd like it but there aren't many dev jobs for 40+ so I'd be throwing away a high level management role that took 7 years at thee one bank to get to0

Anybody else made to switch back and survived?