Ask HN: Going from Developer to Manager. What should I know or learn?

Post by MichaelMoser123 » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 5:02 AM UTC

aerophilic wrote: post #142

MichaelMoser123 wrote: post #124

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How do you define 'toxic'? How often do you fire workers for being 'toxic'?

There is a quote I once heard “Good teams are usually great for the same reasons, bad teams are almost always bad for different reasons”. This is the much the same for people. Generally speaking, the best people you have worked with are very similar in terms of what they provided that made you really happy to be with them. Example “good” traits: - honestly - dependability - integrity - intelligence - humility - excel…

Post by shadowwolf007 » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 7:09 AM UTC

mharroun wrote: post #151

shadowwolf007 wrote: post #96

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To be honest a lot of your suggestions are probably very solid but come off like the "Find a mechanic you can trust" solution. By that I mean the advice of "find a mechanic you can trust" only is applicable to someone already familiar enough to know how to determine if a mechanic is trustworthy. A lot of your advice is probably 100% valuable, but as someone working through a lot of these same concerns I'm stuck wonde…

That is a fair criticism, my tips were just a list of the top notes I could think of to help. I could dive extensively into each and every bullet. I will say if you constantly questioning whether you are doing a good job and if you can do better... you are probably above average at least.

Post by MarvelousWololo » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 11:32 AM UTC

stuntkite wrote: post #113

zrobotics wrote: post #109

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RE the architect handwriting tutorials: do you have any recommendations? I can barely read my own scribbles, and I've struggled with poor penmanship forever. I'd looked for courses/tutorials, but hadn't found anything that resonated.

I have a few friends that are draftsmen. I asked them and they said they just gave them a font and graded them on it with homework blueprints. What I did was just googled architect fonts and downloaded a bunch of examples then used a field notes pocket dot journal[0] to practice. I would just try to copy a font exactly, then do drills on problem letters. I probably drilled on four fonts I found that I liked. Focusing…

Post by laurentl » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 12:44 PM UTC

MichaelMoser123 wrote: post #161

mharroun wrote: post #153

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Toxic examples: - "This is stupid" or other negative comments in code reviews (aka non-constructive criticism) - Yelling or cursing at people because they question you and your decisions. - talking bad about the company or other teammates to people behind their back. - throwing a "temper tantrum" when you don't get your way when it comes to some architectural decision. - refusing to work with certain people or only w…

Thanks for the answer. I hope all firms have a formal HR process where they state expectations and confront the individual before he is labelled as toxic. I think everyone should have a chance!

Post by paulie_a » Sat, Jan 05, 2019, 6:47 PM UTC

davismwfl wrote: post #154

paulie_a wrote: post #25

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I honestly don't believe flat organizations exist. They claim to be but there is always an informal heirachy. Which is trickier to navigate then just having a bit of structure. No need to go overboard but at least formalize what exists but unsaid.

I would agree, people call it flat but in reality there are always some structures, processes etc either known or not. But I do see that there are quality organizations that call themselves flat, when in reality they are more like an open door, open culture workplace. But they still have a structure and organization on how you do things. e.g. you can talk to the CEO, but you are not to use that access to manipulate t…