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What does a Director of Engineering do?

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Re: What does a Director of Engineering do?

#71

Post by technicaldonut »

irrational wrote: post #62
lliamander wrote: post #23

> I used to think hard work leads to promotion. This is because I didn't understand why different positions exist outside of a title change. Now I see things a bit differently. If an individual on my team is working hard, I'm going to keep them where they are because they're getting the job done. Rather, I'm looking to elevate my 10x engineer - not the one that's the doing their job well but the one thats mentoring t…

I don't understand why people want to be promoted. I've worked for the same company for nearly 2 decades. I'm basically doing the same job as when I started. I don't want more work or more responsibilities. I'm happy staying in my groove. In that time my pay has more than doubled. Recently my boss informed me that they were giving me a 15% raise. I didn't ask for a raise. I don't have to do any more work. Frankly I'v…

From my experience that is indeed a somewhat unusual situation.

The companies I have worked for in the past and those where friends and family work tend give "raises" to match inflation and sometimes a bit on top.

There are also plenty of companies that dont raise your salary at all unless you get promoted.

I think that is part of why many people advise new graduates to change jobs every 2-3 years for some time as often the salary of the newly hired tends to reflect the current market rate.

I have had instances where newly hired people with less experience than colleagues received 20% more salary simply because they were new. This is for the same job and productivity level.

Your standpoint on promotions is perfectly fine and even healthy. Not all people want to get promoted and as long as your are comfortable in your job and like, or at least not mind, doing it, thats okay.

Your boss and the company you work for may very well genuinely care about you. They may have also raised your salary because your are extremely knowledgeable in your area and cant afford to have you leave the company. They could also very much underpay your current market rate and raised your salary to match what other people are earning in that position. No one except your boss can answer that.

Leaving a company that you like working at is a risk and can backfire. I did it once and regretted my decision. Other times it can be a great decision and expose you to new things that you may end up liking even more than your current job.

At the end of the day that decision is squarely on you.

Re: What does a Director of Engineering do?

#73

Post by _jal »

dchyrdvh wrote: post #61
ebiester wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on where you are in your career. If you are a below average developer, do like they say in the airplane and "put on your own mask before assisting others." If you are an above average developer, you will be noticed by being the person who helps others more than solving every problem. At some point in your career, your influence by your own two hands reaches a plateau. You are a senior engineer. How are the…

I've been there and only learnt that this "wait to be chosen" attitude never pays off. It's rewarded, but the reward is a pittance compared to what that energy could buy. My advise to myself 20yo would be: learn how to deal with people, learn how organizations work, build capital and get onto the money side of things; but don't let your ego get tricked into the shiny tech lead and manager titles as those are only mir…

If what you care about is money, why do tech at all? Sure, it pays well, but not ibanker-well. The replacement-level investment banker is doing to make a multiple of all but the best-compensated engineers.

Re: What does a Director of Engineering do?

#74

Post by _jal »

dchyrdvh wrote: post #48
bluGill wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is more amazing is their managers who have figured out how to work the system are not telling people that. Your job should be helping your people get where they want to go so if they can't get there tell them why. I've wasted years working hard and trying to gain influence only to realize that the areas I was getting influence in didn't matter to anyone so I was condemned to get good jobs but no promotion. It ha…

People with this "help others" mindset lose competition against their more ruthless peers. If you had a business, would you help others to compete with you?

I've worked with someone who couldn't tell the difference between a coworker and a competitor, and I hope I never do again.

Re: What does a Director of Engineering do?

#75

Post by dchyrdvh »

_jal wrote: post #73
dchyrdvh wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been there and only learnt that this "wait to be chosen" attitude never pays off. It's rewarded, but the reward is a pittance compared to what that energy could buy. My advise to myself 20yo would be: learn how to deal with people, learn how organizations work, build capital and get onto the money side of things; but don't let your ego get tricked into the shiny tech lead and manager titles as those are only mir…

If what you care about is money, why do tech at all? Sure, it pays well, but not ibanker-well. The replacement-level investment banker is doing to make a multiple of all but the best-compensated engineers.

It was an easy way to make some initial capital. I would've done that in the banking sphere if I could.

Re: What does a Director of Engineering do?

#77

Post by sibeliuss »

irrational wrote: post #62
lliamander wrote: post #23

> I used to think hard work leads to promotion. This is because I didn't understand why different positions exist outside of a title change. Now I see things a bit differently. If an individual on my team is working hard, I'm going to keep them where they are because they're getting the job done. Rather, I'm looking to elevate my 10x engineer - not the one that's the doing their job well but the one thats mentoring t…

I don't understand why people want to be promoted. I've worked for the same company for nearly 2 decades. I'm basically doing the same job as when I started. I don't want more work or more responsibilities. I'm happy staying in my groove. In that time my pay has more than doubled. Recently my boss informed me that they were giving me a 15% raise. I didn't ask for a raise. I don't have to do any more work. Frankly I'v…

I feel the exact same way. When I have 1:1s with my manager the topic of career progression often comes up and I kinda feel bad saying I'm perfectly happy as a sr engineer who is dependable and does good work.

Re: What does a Director of Engineering do?

#78

Post by emmanueloga_ »

> My personal mission is to create a world class engineering team that create world class products. This starts from the individuals

How do people in positions like this manage to keep track of individuals when the numbers could be in the lower tens to hundreds? Perhaps is one of the traits that makes one a good director? It seems like something like [1] but for tracking office relationships could be a good idea.

OTOH, it maybe that people that matter the most naturally flow to the top of the director line of sight, or that they are making a bigger effort for that to happen :-).

1: https://www.monicahq.com/

Re: What does a Director of Engineering do?

#79

Post by Thorentis »

irrational wrote: post #62
lliamander wrote: post #23

> I used to think hard work leads to promotion. This is because I didn't understand why different positions exist outside of a title change. Now I see things a bit differently. If an individual on my team is working hard, I'm going to keep them where they are because they're getting the job done. Rather, I'm looking to elevate my 10x engineer - not the one that's the doing their job well but the one thats mentoring t…

I don't understand why people want to be promoted. I've worked for the same company for nearly 2 decades. I'm basically doing the same job as when I started. I don't want more work or more responsibilities. I'm happy staying in my groove. In that time my pay has more than doubled. Recently my boss informed me that they were giving me a 15% raise. I didn't ask for a raise. I don't have to do any more work. Frankly I'v…

I would be happy to be in the same role for the rest of my career if it meant that: a) I got to work on different projects across my career b) The company I work for was happy to invest in my development and learning (through paying for courses/certs/self-learning time and importantly c) I got regular pay rises.

Sadly, the order I listed those is in decreasing order of how likely each company is to offer them. So many companies are reluctant to give out pay rises (and I'm not talking 2% inflation rises that only ensure you stay above water). There's almost this unspoken principle where if you agreed to do a job 5 years ago for one price, why should you want more to do the same job 5 years later? There's no notion that maybe your institutional knowledge is worth something, or you're a better engineer now, or the company will be worse off if you leave vs. if they hire somebody else.

And so, people more often than not move companies to get a raise. Gone are the days where you can start at a company as a grad, and work there till you retire. I wish those days were still here, but they're not. Every time I got a raise it was because I moved jobs.

Re: What does a Director of Engineering do?

#80

Post by jonny383 »

sunnyP wrote: post #6
bojo wrote: post #2

Good insights. Small nitpick, I have no idea what the terms "EOS" and "L10 meetings" mean.

EOS = Entrepreneurial Operating System https://www.eosworldwide.com/what-is-eos L10 = Level 10 Meeting https://www.eosworldwide.com/blog/what-the-heck-is-a-level-1...

In other words, "buzzword" masturbation that contributes literally nothing to the definitions.
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