I'm in a developer role, and applying for developer positions since around 3-4 years. I'm in a moment in my career where I'd be willing to lean toward a managerial position as I feel fit for the role, however I have little to no prospects how I'd be doing this.
I could apply for junior project manager positions, but that would mean job hunting without related experience and difficult for me to get the job. I would also have difficulties to train to that new role, as switching company culture at the same time than role.
I could also try to get promoted in-house, with the benefit of not having to switch jobs, but this would require the company to trust I would do a better job higher up than in my current position. Since we are a small company, and they had trouble keeping developers lately, I'm guessing the answer would be no or take a long time to complete.
Finally, as this world is completely unknown to me, I have preconceptions that managers work in average more time, are more often on-call and am a bit worried if this move would be detrimental to my work/life balance. I'd rather not try anything if this is at stake.
What would be the most reliable way to climb up the ladder, without risking to burn out, supposing I have the ability ?