What you give up by moving into engineering management
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What you give up by moving into engineering management
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Re: What you give up by moving into engineering management
#2I moved from IC to manager for four years before moving back, and can agree with the points made here. Including the one about it being fairly easy to move back.
Some ICs may find they are actually better managers, and some will find out they were better at being an IC.
Others will find both satisfying in different ways, and may work out well on either ladder.
I may go back to being a manager some day, but for the time, I’m enjoying being an IC again.
If you’re fortunate enough to work at a company that affords you the flexibility, and you’re given the opportunity, I recommend trying it out, after you’ve read and ack’ed the tradeoffs in this article.
But if these tradoffs sound miserable to you, don’t bother; there are plenty of good opportunities as an IC — if not at your current gig, then at another one. And if not now, then later (when the economy improves).
Re: What you give up by moving into engineering management
#3I moved from IC to manager for four years before moving back, and can agree with the points made here. Including the one about it being fairly easy to move back. Some ICs may find they are actually better managers, and some will find out they were better at being an IC. Others will find both satisfying in different ways, and may work out well on either ladder. I may go back to being a manager some day, but for the ti…
I've seen Charity Majors call this the "pendulum" model, where you swing back and forth from IC to management multiple times during your career.
I really like that: in my experience, ICs who have been managers make better ICs and vice-versa.
https://charity.wtf/2017/05/11/the-engineer-manager-pendulum...
Re: What you give up by moving into engineering management
#4I think the author's experience is more true in smaller companies or startups. In the big tech companies especially, high-band senior or principal engineers are expected to lead through influence (without being anyone's boss) and have to make these exact same tradeoffs effectively to succeed. You can coast as a senior in many places if you want to just deliver by yourself, but you won't get further.
Also note that the author points out that he chose to make many of these tradeoffs not from being a manager, but when he got older and chose to refocus on his family. This is a tradeoff many people have to make whether they are a people manager or not.
Re: What you give up by moving into engineering management
#5I can resonate with this a lot as I am a newly minted Staff Engineer.
You really need to block the times to focus, so you hopefully still get to solve some interesting things.
Most of my time is spent on setting the direction, cross team collaboration, managing different stakeholders in the higher, backlog refinements and pre-refinements. I tend to pick up small 1 point story tickets which are not on the critical path to stay in touch with ground reality.
You also have to be an adult in the room, even though you are not wrt age. Got to deal with kindness and patience.
Re: What you give up by moving into engineering management
#6I moved from IC to manager for four years before moving back, and can agree with the points made here. Including the one about it being fairly easy to move back. Some ICs may find they are actually better managers, and some will find out they were better at being an IC. Others will find both satisfying in different ways, and may work out well on either ladder. I may go back to being a manager some day, but for the ti…
I wonder if we should do it as a matter of course the same way some executives and managers do line work to better understand and appreciate their employees.
Re: What you give up by moving into engineering management
#7I've actually given up all of these things years ago, and I'm an IC. Maybe I'd be fine as a manager. I give zero shits about placating my ego by being the smartest person in the room. I want everyone else on the team to make their own decisions, learn lessons, and be actively contributing in all ways. And honestly, most problems and imperfections are fine. Let people do something in a crappy way. It will eventually help the entire team, as counter-intuitive as that seems.
Re: What you give up by moving into engineering management
#8I quit managing because I couldn't stomach the language managers are required to speak. The cliches, the obfuscation, the outright lying when relaying the c__p coming from above, the list goes on.
Re: What you give up by moving into engineering management
#9"What you give up when moving into engineering management" = your soul.
Re: What you give up by moving into engineering management
#10"What you give up when moving into engineering management" = your soul.
That’s a little dramatic.
As a manager you deal with people. As an IC you also deal with people but to a smaller degree. If you can handle dealing with people you stand to make more money. It’s a job.