I work at a large US company that has a fairly standard advancement path for software developers. Something like junior, mid-level, senior, lead, and then the seemingly non-sequitur jump to dev manager.
I'm fairly happy in my role, I feel like I'm valuable and productive. But I'm getting nudged in the direction of dev lead, which I have no interest in. At my company, dev leads don't do much dev (maybe 10%). Also, I am not a natural leader and don't want to spend time honing those skills, nor do I want the added stress and responsibility.
In general, is this situation viewed negatively - specifically an employee not wanting to advance? If so, how do I frame the discussion with my manager so he knows I'm not interested without painting myself with too negative a brush, and killing any possibility of future opportunities?