Mistakes I made as an engineer, but had to become a manager to see
1–10 of 109 posts
Re: Mistakes I made as an engineer, but had to become a manager to see
#2Couldn't agree more. For a long time, I'd be one of the last people to quit when a shitty manager was brought onboard. I'd give them their due time. Other senior engineers saw the writing on the wall and jumped ship. So far they've always been better off for leaving than me for sticking around.
Re: Mistakes I made as an engineer, but had to become a manager to see
#3...will we see this followed up with "mistakes I made as a manager, but had to become an executive to see"? ;)
Re: Mistakes I made as an engineer, but had to become a manager to see
#4"When I was an engineer I focused on work that improved my career, but then I became a manager and realized that my engineers actually should work to improve my career!"
Funny how that works.
Re: Mistakes I made as an engineer, but had to become a manager to see
#5...will we see this followed up with "mistakes I made as a manager, but had to become an executive to see"? ;)
Hahah also good clickbait. Maybe one day if I'm lucky
Re: Mistakes I made as an engineer, but had to become a manager to see
#6Tldr: people problems are problems, having a good team is important, socialising is important.
This is such a non-article.
Re: Mistakes I made as an engineer, but had to become a manager to see
#7I dont get it.
Why would you care or think much about hiring as an engineer? You probably would not even be asked to attend interviews. If you vibe with the company and share the vision okay but this is not a matter of perspective.
Why would you NOT be interested in getting to know your coworkers? Why NOT have interesting conversation or a good laugh at lunch? This has nothing to do with beeing an engineer or manager either.
Obsession with code maybe more important for an engineer. Does not mean it was „wrong“.
Re: Mistakes I made as an engineer, but had to become a manager to see
#8"When I was an engineer I focused on work that improved my career, but then I became a manager and realized that my engineers actually should work to improve my career!" Funny how that works.
I agree it's easy to see it that way as an IC (I thought the same!). I think the more senior you become the more you will view impact from the lens of your team/org, even as an IC
Re: Mistakes I made as an engineer, but had to become a manager to see
#9> Hiring well is one of the best uses of your time
When I was an engineer I used to think this, but now that I'm a manager, I'm not so sure...
If you want to maximize your impact, and make the biggest contribution possible to your company, then yeah, sure, it's absolutely the best use of your time.
But a lot of engineers are trying to contribute to the company in ways that are mutually beneficial to them, and the way that a lot of companies set up interviewing is not. It's a thankless job that takes time away from things that can actually be put a performance review, so only the more selfless engineers will do it.
The article reads a bit like manager-to-engineer advice, but the advice to managers would be: keep track of who is helping out with interviewing, and who is interviewing well, and reward them for it.
Re: Mistakes I made as an engineer, but had to become a manager to see
#10Technical skills are teachable to a coachable person, soft skills not so much