For me, the whole idea of management in the software industry is to get out of the way to ensure engineers can do their job and and https://twitter.com/therealfitz/status/623526248338186240
A Plan to Turn Engineers into Managers
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Re: A Plan to Turn Engineers into Managers
#12"Don’t manage only to advance your career. Many tech companies have parallel career paths to seniority for both technical and managerial high-performers."
Is this really true?
Many engineers do become managers only to advance their careers.
The "parallel" technical career path never seems to deliver equal amounts of power, or even money, as compared to managers on the same level.
Even when a rough parity exists on paper, for every "principal Engineer" or whatever, there are a couple of dozen Vice Presidents of Blah. Oddswise, to make the same amount of money, and more importantly, to get more lucrative job offers in the future, in most companies it pays to transition to management than stay technical. (which is fine, it is just the way the world works, just pointing out that the article may need some fixing)
Re: A Plan to Turn Engineers into Managers
#13Related, a little opinioated as well and incredibly well drilled down: http://www.defmacro.org/2014/10/03/engman.html
Re: A Plan to Turn Engineers into Managers
#14I cannot tell if blog post is this a theory or 15-page commercial for one man's opinions. The title claims it turns engineers into remarkable managers, yet provides no evidence. I see a lot of bold claims (e.g. "As with any new job, the most important task you should be doing at any given time will definitely be uncomfortable. It should be") but this piece lacks the reflection and perspective of a PG think-piece or any sort of evidence to justify its numerous opinions.
A more accurate title: "Some guy has opinions on what managers should do so we typed those opinions up."
My other big objection is that the pieces of advice (e.g. "manage up") seem stock and not actionable. Merely telling one to "manage up," (i.e. make your boss happy) is a new phrase for something entirely obvious. Nobody would disagree with "Make your boss happy," but somehow you spin the phrase in a new way and make a new lexicon around it and you have a facade of content.
Re: A Plan to Turn Engineers into Managers
#15"Don’t manage only to advance your career. Many tech companies have parallel career paths to seniority for both technical and managerial high-performers." Is this really true? Many engineers do become managers only to advance their careers. The "parallel" technical career path never seems to deliver equal amounts of power, or even money, as compared to managers on the same level. Even when a rough parity exists on pa…
FWIW, I know senior engineers that chose the technical route rather than manager route, who make absolutely ridiculous amounts of money. Like close to 1,000,000/year including equity. I don't know any non VP level people making anywhere close to that.
Obviously this is anecdotal though.
Re: A Plan to Turn Engineers into Managers
#16"Don’t manage only to advance your career. Many tech companies have parallel career paths to seniority for both technical and managerial high-performers." Is this really true? Many engineers do become managers only to advance their careers. The "parallel" technical career path never seems to deliver equal amounts of power, or even money, as compared to managers on the same level. Even when a rough parity exists on pa…
It's probably true, but the thresholds to move up to the next level are vastly different.
On the "management" ladder, you probably need to mostly stay out of the way of your team and let them execute, while acting occasionally to filter information up/down the chain. If you've stayed in the position for a reasonable time and have not really screwed things up, you advance to the next level.
On the technical ladder, on the other hand, you'd really need to make quite a difference to move up to the next level. You'd have to go above and beyond doing your daily expected taken-for-granted work and make technical contributions on your own time to advance to the next level.
Re: A Plan to Turn Engineers into Managers
#17This is a list of things a CEO wants managers to do and be like. IMO following these rules will keep you submissive and his castle nice and orderly. Not what you want if you have an ounce of ambition.
To actually survive and excel as a manager you need to play politics and win turf battles. Take on the highest value projects and ship. To get the good projects you'll need to fight because everyone wants them.
TLDR: Adding value to the company is how you get promoted as a manager, not by showcasing talent in a skill.
Re: A Plan to Turn Engineers into Managers
#18I'm sure everyone has their own opinions on all of this but, wow, that is an incredible resource.
You might want to check out the manager-tools podcasts as well, (different people, I believe,) if you haven't already:
:)
Re: A Plan to Turn Engineers into Managers
#19For me, the whole idea of management in the software industry is to get out of the way to ensure engineers can do their job and and https://twitter.com/therealfitz/status/623526248338186240
FWIW, I don't believe that managers should shield engineers from what's going on up above. Instead, they should present the information in a manageable way, but also in a way that's honest. Political reality is too important to your reports' careers, so withholding it is kinda irresponsible.
Re: A Plan to Turn Engineers into Managers
#20"Don’t manage only to advance your career. Many tech companies have parallel career paths to seniority for both technical and managerial high-performers." Is this really true? Many engineers do become managers only to advance their careers. The "parallel" technical career path never seems to deliver equal amounts of power, or even money, as compared to managers on the same level. Even when a rough parity exists on pa…
FWIW, I know senior engineers that chose the technical route rather than manager route, who make absolutely ridiculous amounts of money. Like close to 1,000,000/year including equity. I don't know any non VP level people making anywhere close to that. Obviously this is anecdotal though.
"including equity"
Pretend the equity is worth zero or close to zero (which it almost always is). How much are those people making then?