Most Developmental Coaches love it. Some are developmental coaches as a stepping to stone to hopefully being a senior coach. Me, I am a developmental coach. I have had the opportunity to coach seniors, but I passed on it to continue to develop swimmers. It can be the easiest coaching job, as improvement happens more often than at the senior levels. The lower the level, the more likely your swimmers can drop time, and the drops can be bigger.
As the developmental coach, you win the adoration of swimmers and parents on your team. From the outside, you are just another coach. You are in the job of developing swimmers to a certain level, and then you move them to the next group. It becomes a challenge, as you create a fast top part of the group, and then you move them up, and now your top group is what was your middle part of the group. You're not starting over, but you take a step back to build that group to be at the level of the previous group.
Great thing for me, I knew what my job was in the beginning. I didn't want to be anything more, and knew from experience as a swimmer in a group, that moving kids up was a challenge for coaches. I went into my first Head Age-Group Coaching position knowing what my job was for the team, and I wasn't interested in the next level. Well, I loved the job. I became a Head Coach, and instead of finding a Head Age-Group Coach; I found a senior coach.
I was told once, "You are only as good as the people below you." That makes you understand how important the developmental coaches are for a senior coach. They may not have the track record of having fast swimmers, but they are huge in the development of the swim club as a whole.
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