[clavalle]

I have personally been approached by internal recruiters for a position just after the company very publicly laid off people with my title and are going after 'middle management'.

I declined.

I'm a software architect but I strongly believe that the organization of people is as important as the organization of software. So architects and principals, to be the most effective, should have management authority. Middle management, if done well, makes or breaks mid to large software companies. An organization that doesn't deeply respect that role isn't anywhere I want to be.