because you enjoy coding more than managing, if you don't then you obviously shouldn't. But quite a few people do enjoy programming and give it up due to the kind of pressures or comparisons we're talking about here in the thread for mostly lame reasons.

And I don't think having an adverse reaction to peer comparison is immature. These days at big companies in tech in particular group think is incredibly strong. Being headstrong and not making decisions based on what's popular in your in group is a good thing. You can course correct but do it because of your own needs, not others. A/B testing is appropriate for products, not the lives of individuals.