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Common Mistakes of New Engineering Managers

ochronus.online

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Re: Common Mistakes of New Engineering Managers

#21

Post by daenney »

In about 90% of companies I’ve seen they expect you to do all the manager things and be an engineer too. It’s not so much a mistake individuals make as that it’s an explicit expectation that you’ll be wearing multiple hats.

Folks generally get bombarded to manager because there’s no career ladder and this is what people think they have to do next to be able to continue to grow. And once you become a manager it doesn’t suddenly create a head count to backfill the “loss” of an engineer so there is continued pressure on you to do both.

Once career ladders start to get better defined this starts to change too, and as the size of the company increases manager and IC responsibilities end up being different people. But companies seem to only figure this out at the 500-1000+ employee threshold.

Re: Common Mistakes of New Engineering Managers

#22

Post by varjag »

I was in that role nearly two decades ago and can confirm it's spot on.

Would add that you also need enough self confidence to stand your ground in discussions with upper management: this affects the outcomes on some points made in the article. Also, one should pretty much ignore unsolicited input/help from non-stakeholders in the project.

Re: Common Mistakes of New Engineering Managers

#23

Post by ochronus »

29athrowaway wrote: post #16

I disagree with this article. If you, like the author of this article, spent 13 years as an IC, perhaps it is OK for you to focus on acquiring the soft skills required to be an efficient engineering manager. After 13 years as an IC, you have a pretty good perspective on what it means to be an IC, how to identify valuable team members, how to assess their skills, how to identify blockers and facilitate solutions, and…

Both points you raise are very valid!

1. Growing in the 'soft skills' areas doesn't mean you should stop growing in engineering excellence - that's the problem with one-sided articles like this (I am the author )

2. Super important point about that you don't delegate accountability!

Thanks for sharing!

Re: Common Mistakes of New Engineering Managers

#24

Post by SteveNuts »

varjag wrote: post #22

I was in that role nearly two decades ago and can confirm it's spot on. Would add that you also need enough self confidence to stand your ground in discussions with upper management: this affects the outcomes on some points made in the article. Also, one should pretty much ignore unsolicited input/help from non-stakeholders in the project.

Can you give an example of what you mean by input from non stakeholders?

Re: Common Mistakes of New Engineering Managers

#25

Post by varjag »

SteveNuts wrote: post #24
varjag wrote: post #22

I was in that role nearly two decades ago and can confirm it's spot on. Would add that you also need enough self confidence to stand your ground in discussions with upper management: this affects the outcomes on some points made in the article. Also, one should pretty much ignore unsolicited input/help from non-stakeholders in the project.

Can you give an example of what you mean by input from non stakeholders?

Depends on the org structure.

In the one I was, architects were siloed off from the projects in a parallel sub-unit in the department, making it a bit of an ivory tower. They would issue design and scope decrees without facing any schedule pressures themselves. It took me a while to realize that most of my managing peers were quietly* ignoring them, delegating the actual decisions to the team.

(*) As in, amend them to a workable design through a few status updates rather than making a stand-off in the initial meeting.

Re: Common Mistakes of New Engineering Managers

#26

Post by watwut »

29athrowaway wrote: post #16

I disagree with this article. If you, like the author of this article, spent 13 years as an IC, perhaps it is OK for you to focus on acquiring the soft skills required to be an efficient engineering manager. After 13 years as an IC, you have a pretty good perspective on what it means to be an IC, how to identify valuable team members, how to assess their skills, how to identify blockers and facilitate solutions, and…

I had multiple managers that had little or no technical background. They were among the worst managers I had, not a single one was efficient or good.

People with good technical background could be both bad and good.

Re: Common Mistakes of New Engineering Managers

#28

Post by taurath »

ochronus wrote: post #7
willmunn wrote: post #6

This sounds like the kind of role a lot of good engineers get promoted to unwillingly/unknowingly, how do you avoid being assigned this role and remain a valued engineer once you have experience?

Yup, that's a common career path mistake companies do - making the only possible 'next step' for senior engineers to become managers. If your company doesn't have a strong career path for senior ICs, you should push for one

The problem is when it comes time to choose a direction, its gonna be you vs the person with N direct reports who can make it happen. I've seen companies give up on this and turn principles into directors - that hasn't worked out well either. It seems to be a pretty bad problem with the standard hierarchical way businesses are set up.

I've heard Goog does a bit better with a bit more autonomy so people can gravitate towards good ideas, but have also heard plenty of downsides. Maybe a new way to structure employees could come about?

Re: Common Mistakes of New Engineering Managers

#29

Post by buro9 »

willmunn wrote: post #6

This sounds like the kind of role a lot of good engineers get promoted to unwillingly/unknowingly, how do you avoid being assigned this role and remain a valued engineer once you have experience?

> how do you avoid being assigned this role and remain a valued engineer once you have experience?

Change company.

If the only progression for an engineer is to become a manager, change company to one that allows an engineer to continue growing, continue learning, and continue to earn more.

Some signs a company will force you to become a manager to progress:

1. Artificial ceilings: "We have Principal and Staff Engineers, but those are defined as having had impact outside the company so you cannot become one as your work only has impact internally" - effectively these titles are only offered to strategic hires and it's not attainable from inside the company

2. Managers paid more than the top engineers.

3. Title inflation as this stifles actual growth and learning and tends to limit overall earnings forcing you to look to change your career to find new challenges and earnings even though you want to be an IC and continue to do engineering.

Unless a company truly has a clear progression for ICs with learning, growth and earnings all factored in, and that the IC progression goes all the way to near the top of the company, and it's achievable within the company... then you're going to reach the point that you'll look at the manager career and think it's the only way forward. It isn't, and it's not even forward it's to the side and backwards a bit (you reset your career and start at the lowest level of a new track).

If you can't progress as an engineer and wish to... change company.

Re: Common Mistakes of New Engineering Managers

#30

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

I was an engineering manager for 25 years. I could say lots on the topic, but my dance card is pretty full, right now.

It's a nice read. There's a ton of other pitfalls (both for newer and more experienced managers). I gave a quick shortlist in a comment on an earlier thread[0].

The author has a number of articles in a similar vein. I think they are pretty good[1].

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26231963

[1] https://ochronus.online

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