Yup, which is why I hate when engineers and the like yearn for a promotion. Like, stop. You're good at what you do and you should be rewarded for that monetarily or with other benefits, but not with a promotion outside of your skill set.
In the tech world, I don't think it's weird that a team manager (not tech lead) would make less than their best performing employees but I'm not sure if it ever happens.
Truth. I drove with my knees so much when I had a manual transmission.