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Ask HN: How to prepare for an Engineering Manager interview?

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Re: Ask HN: How to prepare for an Engineering Manager interview?

#71
post #66

Never use the word "manager" again. Instead, prefer "leader". If you are somewhere where the team needs to be managed then there are better jobs out there. Buy and read Jim Whitehurst book The Open Organization before your interview and actualize the information in that book. Recall times you put into practice the things that are mentioned in the book (good and bad).

I'd add slightly to this. Managers are one path in the leadership ladder. Management is organizational leadership the other is technical leadership. Technical leadership is the principal engineer, architect, or technical fellow at most companies. In most companies the lower parts of the ladder is shared as in technical or IC roles.

Surprisingly there is a large amount of leadership that is shared between both ladders. Group communication, group mentorship and coaching, group leadership is more or less the same. Teams are particularly weak if they don't have both technical and organizational leadership.

The technical leaders typically are focused on mentoring and growing engineers with architecture and technical guidance. Organizational leaders are focused on mentoring and growing engineers on their career path and a lot of the softer skills.

I agree 100% on the if a team needs to be managed, it needs to be changed. Teams will always need leaders to provide focus. And ideally they need both organizational and technical leadership. Rarely does that come in one package.

Re: Ask HN: How to prepare for an Engineering Manager interview?

#72
I'd like to thanks everyone who participated in this thread. Very good stuff. It looks like I'm gonna have to highlight my personality to make sure it's inline with an engineering manager role. Since it's the only thing I have on top of a strong tech background and mentorship. Interestingly, I also have a little bit of product management experience. But really it looks like it will be about my ability to make all my interviewers feel like home.

cheers!

Re: Ask HN: How to prepare for an Engineering Manager interview?

#73
post #70

Think about how to express when and how you would prioritize the needs of the business over the needs of the engineers. Demonstrate your grasp of cost optimization.

More generally, if you never say "no" you probably don't have a strategy.

Exactly, going both ways.

Re: Ask HN: How to prepare for an Engineering Manager interview?

#74

I don't know exactly what this company is looking for and how big a team you would be managing so it's hard to speak for them, however, an Engineering Manager is usually a pretty high level position and you should be expected to have a lot of experience under your belt in management, leadership and software engineering. The fact that you're never been in a management role even as a lead engineer (how is that possible…

Being non-native english speaker, could you explain to me what does the IC abbreviation mean? (I've seen it mentioned in your post as well in several others; and google didn't help). Thanks

Re: Ask HN: How to prepare for an Engineering Manager interview?

#75
post #74

I don't know exactly what this company is looking for and how big a team you would be managing so it's hard to speak for them, however, an Engineering Manager is usually a pretty high level position and you should be expected to have a lot of experience under your belt in management, leadership and software engineering. The fact that you're never been in a management role even as a lead engineer (how is that possible…

Being non-native english speaker, could you explain to me what does the IC abbreviation mean? (I've seen it mentioned in your post as well in several others; and google didn't help). Thanks

Individual Contributor

Re: Ask HN: How to prepare for an Engineering Manager interview?

#76
I maintain a list of engineering management resources here: https://github.com/charlax/engineering-management

I think it provides a pretty comprehensive list of topics that you could chat about during your interviews. Rather than making a good impression, you should talk truthfully about those topics. Worst case you'll learn something about them. Management is a great role that requires constant learning.

Good luck for the interviews!

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