Yup - close to 10 years in the US now (Silicon Valley and "Wall Street"). I was also a manager for a few years. Some hints on becoming a manager off the top of my head:
- you should focus on visibiltiy within the company
- make sure that your managers' manager knows who you are
- build up a good reputation
- work in a growing section of the business
- work for an ambituous manager
- simply tell your manager that your career goal is to become a manager one day - that way if the opportunity should arise one day, you already have some mindshare
- Make sure that you're perceived as organized: dress tidy, write coherent emails, give solid presentations, keep your desk neat, speak your language properly, etc.
- Instill an impression of seniority
- Help out new hires
- Talk up in meetings (assuming you have something valid to say of course)
- Actively work on impressing your peers (and don't piss any of them off)
- Push for a higher salary (it is surprising how backwards HR departments sometimes are - they will be biased towards the employee with the highest salary, since they figure that it will save money on the promotion). They also see "higher pay" as "more senior", and often take the stance that these guys should be the team managers, which is entirely bollocks, if the person has no interpersonal skills, but was paid highly entirely because of technical prowess.
