231–240 of 289 posts
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>LI has a distinctive lack of chill right now contrary to the company image I don't get it. Did linkedin have an image of being a chill place to work?
Yes, absolutely. I worked there about 7-8 years ago and at the time it was considered a "retirement home" in Silicon Valley.
I have a long held belief that engineering managers are mostly a scam, and are actually just overpaid scrum masters. This is from working at some top companies
What are the JDs of "Engineer Managers" ? And what are their REAL responsibilities.
Their responsibilities are basically improve and maintain the performance of whoever they "manage" . But for some reason we decided that shitty engineers that decided they dont want do do development are the ones looking for management positions. And they get good at playing the politics game.
My wife works in a non tech position and had a manager, who studied for people management and understand in the long term what makes people perform (hint, it's not keeping them sad, overworked and getting all the shit politics).
Good managers filter the shit from you. Push back on stupid deadlines and double drippings, and act on your needs as a person.
And they may not know shit about the technical side of things, but they trust you do your job.
I think Industrial Engineers with some specialization in people management make the best managers for Software Dev.
I have a long held belief that engineering managers are mostly a scam, and are actually just overpaid scrum masters. This is from working at some top companies
Silicon Valley used to have engineering managers who managed engineering. As the money got bigger we got more grifters / professional manager types. First thing they do is rebrand middle management as “leaders” and the other thing they do is make management non technical. This has even bled into making higher level IC engineering roles being “above” coding. “Staff engineers don’t code, they set high level architectur…
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Silicon Valley used to have engineering managers who managed engineering. As the money got bigger we got more grifters / professional manager types. First thing they do is rebrand middle management as “leaders” and the other thing they do is make management non technical. This has even bled into making higher level IC engineering roles being “above” coding. “Staff engineers don’t code, they set high level architectur…
On the other hand, manager writing production code is a terrible footgun for the team. Time/resource conflict between helping a team and shipping code has no good outcome, either I let team down by decrease their productivity, or I let team down by slacking behind.
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On the other hand, manager writing production code is a terrible footgun for the team. Time/resource conflict between helping a team and shipping code has no good outcome, either I let team down by decrease their productivity, or I let team down by slacking behind.
There is this new role called TLM that combines being a manager and a tech lead. Not sure how that is supposed to work at all.
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> As the money got bigger we got more grifters / professional manager types. That. Same for all the decorative functions with low value added. > make management non technical This is a big flag to me. I know this is a devisive opinion, but I don't think you can do a good job at managing people without knowing their core business. > making higher level IC engineering roles being “above” coding. There is little that re…
>> make management non technical > This is a big flag to me. I know this is a devisive opinion, but I don't think you can do a good job at managing people without knowing their core business. I have mixed feelings about this. I used to have a manager (who later became vp) that was technical, and it’s been the worst. Of my professional life so far. He would dictate the technical solution and shut down every initiative…
You: "And oh boy, infrastructure was not his core competency."
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> As the money got bigger we got more grifters / professional manager types. That. Same for all the decorative functions with low value added. > make management non technical This is a big flag to me. I know this is a devisive opinion, but I don't think you can do a good job at managing people without knowing their core business. > making higher level IC engineering roles being “above” coding. There is little that re…
> But I've worked with quite a number of managers, PMs and TPMs who talk down to me the moment I tell something even remotely technical, like I'm some sort of amateurish geek only tolerated at the adult's table. You're working with the wrong people.
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Why does managing the team takes so much work? Do you need to hold the hand of all your reports?
Managing people properly takes time. For example, a 30 min 1:1 with the report looking at their wellbeing, motivation, challenges, career goals should be a weekly task. The 30 mins is really 45 mins because notes need to be made following so that there is audit trail, and clarity of expectations for both parties. QoS is important so they can't be shoved back to back, otherwise one will find actively concentrating dif…
Isnt all of that your own work, as a manager?
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Most managers are not good, that’s the problem.
That'll depend heavily on the company, and whether the company's hiring process selects for them.
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Managing people properly takes time. For example, a 30 min 1:1 with the report looking at their wellbeing, motivation, challenges, career goals should be a weekly task. The 30 mins is really 45 mins because notes need to be made following so that there is audit trail, and clarity of expectations for both parties. QoS is important so they can't be shoved back to back, otherwise one will find actively concentrating dif…
Seems like a very paternalistic style of management.