Don't become an engineering manager • Hacker News Board

Re: Don't become an engineering manager

#211

Post by madeofpalk » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 12:35 AM UTC

stego-tech wrote: post #119

Aurornis wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that it really depends on the organisation. This is entirely it. Titles should be consistently ordered within an organization, but they are not portable from one organization to another. This is a lesson I’ve had to explain over and over to people at the beginning of their careers. I’ve been asked for advice about which offer to take from people thinking about leaving 10s of thousands of dollars on the table becaus…

This is why I align on comp ranges rather than title. I've been a "Lead" where all I contributed was a new imaging pipeline and introducing NAT to the product line, a "Manager" of a failing company where I had no managerial authority or direct reports, and a "Senior" at a SV firm where I actually behaved a level above a Senior Engineer - owning outcomes, doing research, mentoring juniors, building relationships acros…

"Lead" is a funny one, because its just not a level that exists where I currently work.

A few teams have a "lead" role, but its mostly ceremonial.

Re: Don't become an engineering manager

#212

Post by nitwit005 » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 12:38 AM UTC

LgWoodenBadger wrote: post #206

jghn wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They matter within a company for the reasons you cite. They mostly don't matter between companies however.

Titles are what “salary comparisons” go by when HR “compares” compensation between employees and “competition.” What else would they be able to use?

I was promoted to senior software engineer three times in my early career. They just tossed out the title as a freebee more-or-less, and the hiring companies told me I was too young/inexperienced for it.

There seems to be an understanding that happens, which means they ignore it.

Re: Don't become an engineering manager

#213

Post by madeofpalk » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 12:39 AM UTC

etothet wrote: post #125

If you are reading this and you are thinking you want to become an engineering manager, I urge you to think long term what you want that to look like. I've seen too often that developers who want to become managers because they think it's the next inventible step aren't prepared for the people management and HR part of that role. And, as you move up to Director and beyond, those higher often have much less to do with…

> I've seen too often that developers who want to become managers because they think it's the next inventible step aren't prepared for the people management and HR part of that role

As an IC, this is baffling to me because that seems like the biggest and most obvious part of the job. I never want to be approving people's leave requests or telling someone they're being a jerk on slack.

Re: Don't become an engineering manager

#214

Post by gorjusborg » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 12:50 AM UTC

I came to read an article, and all I got was a crummy advertisement.

Re: Don't become an engineering manager

#215

Post by ilc » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 12:52 AM UTC

GlibMonkeyDeath wrote: post #94

alephnerd wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you underestimate the job mobility that is lost when you transition from being an individual contributor into someone on the management track. The reality is, there are very few EM and above jobs, and job security is tough - if I have to choose between firing an EM or a SWE, I'd fire the EM first because I can always find another replacement or split their responsibilities across multiple individual contribut…

I agree at the first-line manager level (which this article is about), it's tough to get hired from outside, so getting the same position somewhere else after a layoff will be a tough job search. My comment was more on the next levels - there seemed to be about as many high-level technical roles as managers (paid similarly) where I worked in biotech (that might be a different situation for software-only companies.) A…

I think you over estimate how valuable really good Principal level talent is when you have AIs that can take over for entire teams.

As an older and higher up engineer, I worry more for the youngsters than myself. I'll find a spot. I'm using AI, I'm doing things at rates that are pretty crazy.

That's all powered by decades of good decision making practice. Youngsters don't have that. They don't have the painful lessons hard earned.

Re: Don't become an engineering manager

#216

Post by socketcluster » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 1:01 AM UTC

The key is to stay hands-on. I go for the tech lead role.

Actually at my current company I'm co-lead of a team of 10 people. I've been CTO and also the sole team lead in the past but I was always hands-on coding.

I'm glad I have a co-lead at my current company; in fact, I'm the one who recommended to the big boss that he promote both of us. Normally, I'm the sole leader but in this company, we deal with corporate clients and so there is a fair amount of compliance work, team coordination and stakeholder management and also the project itself is very complex on the tech side. AI adds a lot of complexity. My co-lead is really good with coordination, planning, meetings, stakeholder management and alignment but at the same time he has less experience on the tech side so I have the last say on technical matters like architecture and choice of technologies and I'm in charge of general-purpose modules, configurations, migrations, data management...

I think staying hands-on is very important, especially now with LLMs. Managing complexity is itself a separate concern from managing people. There is a human/psychological component to managing complexity but it's different than pure time management and coordinating work based on priorities. On a project with 10+ people, with AI, the complexity can grow rapidly and so it needs to be managed.

Re: Don't become an engineering manager

#217

Post by master_crab » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 1:09 AM UTC

socketcluster wrote: post #216

The key is to stay hands-on. I go for the tech lead role. Actually at my current company I'm co-lead of a team of 10 people. I've been CTO and also the sole team lead in the past but I was always hands-on coding. I'm glad I have a co-lead at my current company; in fact, I'm the one who recommended to the big boss that he promote both of us. Normally, I'm the sole leader but in this company, we deal with corporate cli…

Staying hands on matters.

I think it also matters how you stay hands on.

Initially, I was in the weeds quite often with my engineers. Over the years I’ve learned to maintain side projects that directionally follow what my teams are doing. It gives me some dispassionate separation and a unique look at things that my engineers appreciate.

Re: Don't become an engineering manager

#218

Post by lukevp » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 1:10 AM UTC

Illniyar wrote: post #185

alephnerd wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. EM is a terminal position that does not own the product roadmap (Product Management) nor the underlying implementation (Staff/Principal Engineers). They primarily own delivery and execution because orgs can't be bothered to hire program managers anymore. If you are great at managing upwards and ensuring delivery by hook or by crook, you will make a great EM. But the next jump after EM is extremely difficult bec…

Are you saying principal engineers and tech minded PMs make lateral moves into director level manager without going through being entry level EMs first? I've never heard of something like that. Usually the requirement for being director level manager of engineers is to at least have managed people as an EM for several years before.

At my company it’s lateral.

Lead -> EM

Sr. Lead -> Sr. EM

Principal -> Director

Sr. Principal -> Sr. Director

The pay is aligned with the level whether or not you’re a people leader. To your point though, it may be difficult to go from Principal to Director. I see the lateral moves happen more at the Lead/Sr. Lead levels. They might do a Principal to a Sr. Manager as a trial period with the expectation that you’d be Director after a short time if you perform well. I’ve definitely seen directors become principals as well, so it goes both ways.

Re: Don't become an engineering manager

#219

Post by Retric » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 1:10 AM UTC

ozim wrote: post #199

Retric wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you swap between 9 hats, you don’t get meaningful experience at any of those roles. Instead you become a generalist which is only really needed at tiny organizations.

Big organizations need generalists too.

Generalist means something very different for big orgs.

At FANG size companies have people to setup 401k and health insurance, tiny startups need 1 of 3 people to figure that out even if it just means finding a company to outsource such things it still needs to happen. Payroll doesn’t need to be a complex system but taxes must be paid etc.

Re: Don't become an engineering manager

#220

Post by leowoo91 » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 1:18 AM UTC

Tbh, lots of EMs/VPs in wild that only behave like salespersons without the actual context. I sometimes find it hard to justify them making as much as senior engineers but could be considered as a stress-pay for those meetings..