What is expected of a engineering manager? • Hacker News Board

Re: What is expected of a engineering manager?

#111

Post by eklavya » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 6:26 AM UTC

madeofpalk wrote: post #100

peterwoerner wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The #1 job of a manager (in all fields) is to keep his people working. It doesn't matter if it is engineering, manufacturing or the local burger joint. A managers #1 job is to keep his people working.

To keep their people working. Women can be managers as well. Edit: I understand other languages might have gendered nouns for words like Manager, and when learning English it can be difficult to break these habits. In English, we have gender neutral pronouns to use when were talking about "generic people" where the gender isnt known. Managers are not just male, so when a sentence is gendered like that I struggle to p…

Maybe we should lighten up a bit and not bring in politics into everything. The writer could be a male and this would be natural for them just like it would be for a female and her.

Re: What is expected of a engineering manager?

#112

Post by sateesh » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 6:43 AM UTC

yalogin wrote: post #86

Is the engineering manager expect to proactively find work for their team? Are they responsible to keep the work pipeline full for the next upcoming cycles?

I would say yes on two counts, one for his/her own growth/benefit and other for the team's benefit. If there is more work in the pipeline it keeps the team less worried about what are the future tasks they can focus on, and this becomes especially important if the company is going through a rough phase. In addition additional work also gives opportunity for the team members to work across different projects and rotate people who are driven and want to work on different projects/technologies a chance, and to retain them. Naturaally, when the team benefits and succeeds it helps the manager and improves his standing in the organiaztion.

However the ugly side of this is office politics, where some managers continuously try to expand their turf undercutting other teams so that they manage bigger teams and reap rewards. (say a bigger title).

Re: What is expected of a engineering manager?

#113

Post by qznc » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 8:21 AM UTC

E. Kalliamvakou, C. Bird, T. Zimmermann, A. Begel, R. DeLine and D. M. German, "What Makes a Great Manager of Software Engineers?," in IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 87-106, 1 Jan. 2019, doi: 10.1109/TSE.2017.2768368.

> We conducted a mixed methods empirical study of software engineering management at Microsoft to investigate what manager attributes developers and engineering managers perceive important and why.

Turns out that engineers want their managers more technical and less inspirational. This is different for sales or marketing managers, for example, so if these transfer it might turn out well.

Re: What is expected of a engineering manager?

#114

Post by madeofpalk » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 10:20 AM UTC

eklavya wrote: post #111

madeofpalk wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To keep their people working. Women can be managers as well. Edit: I understand other languages might have gendered nouns for words like Manager, and when learning English it can be difficult to break these habits. In English, we have gender neutral pronouns to use when were talking about "generic people" where the gender isnt known. Managers are not just male, so when a sentence is gendered like that I struggle to p…

Maybe we should lighten up a bit and not bring in politics into everything. The writer could be a male and this would be natural for them just like it would be for a female and her.

How is it “political” to acknowledge that women can be managers?

Re: What is expected of a engineering manager?

#115

Post by eklavya » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 11:22 AM UTC

madeofpalk wrote: post #114

eklavya wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe we should lighten up a bit and not bring in politics into everything. The writer could be a male and this would be natural for them just like it would be for a female and her.

How is it “political” to acknowledge that women can be managers?

Can you point me to the part where I or the original poster said that women can or can’t be managers? Is that what was being discussed at all before?

Please reflect on whether this is the best you can contribute to a thread about being an engineering manager.

Re: What is expected of a engineering manager?

#116

Post by nashashmi » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 2:57 PM UTC

erikrothoff wrote: post #11

nashashmi wrote: post #7

Why do articles like these make it seem like it was written by a guy targeted by an engineering manager? "Like if I were in his shoe, this is how I would treat myself."

As an aspiring manager of engineers, do you mean that it's far from the truth of real-life counterexamples?

I mean that overall they may be good takeaways, but managers don't do these things intentionally. They do it because they are trying to hold on to the other pressures of the job (meetings).

This article is one-sided.

Re: What is expected of a engineering manager?

#117

Post by halfmatthalfcat » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 4:35 PM UTC

eklavya wrote: post #115

madeofpalk wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it “political” to acknowledge that women can be managers?

Can you point me to the part where I or the original poster said that women can or can’t be managers? Is that what was being discussed at all before? Please reflect on whether this is the best you can contribute to a thread about being an engineering manager.

Using male pronouns instead of genderless/more inclusive pronouns in your speech is indicative of a bad managing style (or just bad style all together). As a manager you should be inclusive of all genders both directly and indirectly, which includes how you use whatever language you speak.

The people you manage could easily identify with a gender that is not physically obvious and using incorrect pronouns leads to a less inclusive and potentially more hostile workplace. This is Management 101.

Re: What is expected of a engineering manager?

#118

Post by halfmatthalfcat » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 4:36 PM UTC

eklavya wrote: post #111

madeofpalk wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To keep their people working. Women can be managers as well. Edit: I understand other languages might have gendered nouns for words like Manager, and when learning English it can be difficult to break these habits. In English, we have gender neutral pronouns to use when were talking about "generic people" where the gender isnt known. Managers are not just male, so when a sentence is gendered like that I struggle to p…

Maybe we should lighten up a bit and not bring in politics into everything. The writer could be a male and this would be natural for them just like it would be for a female and her.

This is a privileged assumption.

Re: What is expected of a engineering manager?

#119

Post by langitbiru » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 5:08 PM UTC

halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #117

eklavya wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point me to the part where I or the original poster said that women can or can’t be managers? Is that what was being discussed at all before? Please reflect on whether this is the best you can contribute to a thread about being an engineering manager.

Using male pronouns instead of genderless/more inclusive pronouns in your speech is indicative of a bad managing style (or just bad style all together). As a manager you should be inclusive of all genders both directly and indirectly, which includes how you use whatever language you speak. The people you manage could easily identify with a gender that is not physically obvious and using incorrect pronouns leads to a…

Some writers use "she"/"her" as genderless pronoun. Example: CEO should fire her own people for the last resort.

What do you think of this?

Re: What is expected of a engineering manager?

#120

Post by textgel » Sat, Oct 17, 2020, 5:15 PM UTC

madeofpalk wrote: post #100

peterwoerner wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The #1 job of a manager (in all fields) is to keep his people working. It doesn't matter if it is engineering, manufacturing or the local burger joint. A managers #1 job is to keep his people working.

To keep their people working. Women can be managers as well. Edit: I understand other languages might have gendered nouns for words like Manager, and when learning English it can be difficult to break these habits. In English, we have gender neutral pronouns to use when were talking about "generic people" where the gender isnt known. Managers are not just male, so when a sentence is gendered like that I struggle to p…

Oh but not trans of course, so polite of you to leave them out in your heteronormative take on the world.

I would have hoped most were aware of the pressures the transgender community is under and would offer more care than such casual takes on gender in the workplace.

A good place to start https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/trevor-support-ce...

You don't have to be perfect but you could at least try to be better.