Reasons Not to Be a Manager (2019)
charity.wtf
Reasons Not to Be a Manager (2019)
1–10 of 192 posts
Re: Reasons Not to Be a Manager (2019)
#2(2019)
Re: Reasons Not to Be a Manager (2019)
#3(Context: Northern Europe)
Switching jobs is quite hard as an (engineering) manager, at least if you're a bit introverted like me. Often you depend on the number of people who trust you from their experience working with you that have switched companies and have come into a trusted position there.
My career:
ages 20-30: Individual contributor.
ages 30-45: (Engineering) manager, running product development teams of varying sizes (up to about 50 people), being all over the architecture/system design. Not really coding in a focused way.
ages 45-now: Individual contributor, coding most of the time.
I was really concerned I wouldn't be able to keep the interest in actual coding all day long when I went back to that, but lo and behold, I'm actually finding it more fun and rewarding than the management roles. Stress is down too.
You too can recover from being a manager :).
Re: Reasons Not to Be a Manager (2019)
#4Also see this comment of mine to get the full picture: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36697404#36700085
Re: Reasons Not to Be a Manager (2019)
#5(Context: Northern Europe) Switching jobs is quite hard as an (engineering) manager, at least if you're a bit introverted like me. Often you depend on the number of people who trust you from their experience working with you that have switched companies and have come into a trusted position there. My career: ages 20-30: Individual contributor. ages 30-45: (Engineering) manager, running product development teams of va…
thinking about making a move towards management, for a similar reason: I really enjoy programming, but after slinging code for 8 hours at work, I can't justify working on my hobby projects when I come home anymore...
hoping that by using more of my "soft skills" and thinking about architecture at work, I'll be able to come home and work something like a solitaire solver without feeling like it's "non-productive"
Re: Reasons Not to Be a Manager (2019)
#6Was nearly fired once for telling the truth. Made me realize I'm not sociopathic enough to laud power over people nor do I kiss enough ass to be coddled by higher ups. I'm quite happy with my IC/senior role.
I am running into the situation where pay bands are tied into titles. Once you reach the upper end of your pay band you have to gain a new title. So you'll be pushed into management track or pushed out the company. I'm pretty sure I'm headed for the latter.
Re: Reasons Not to Be a Manager (2019)
#7Lots of good points in the article. I would add the language that managers are required to speak is mind-numbing. It is Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" come to life.
Re: Reasons Not to Be a Manager (2019)
#8I don’t know about the part where Charity mentions it’s really really easy to get an Eng job than a manager one. As someone who got laid off recently, it sure as heck doesn’t feel that way.
And the skills not being transferrable? How is being good in a particular field of tech _more_ transferable than management skills, which is arguably needed everywhere be it tech or not.
Finally the credit/blame - managers and people above them get paid much more than a lowly engineer. Sometimes you get blamed and then paid handsomely, lol.
The hard conversations and emotional drain is true though. But generally, if you love writing code and interfacing with people equally, it’s hard not to be drawn to the appeal of the management position.
Re: Reasons Not to Be a Manager (2019)
#9(Context: Northern Europe) Switching jobs is quite hard as an (engineering) manager, at least if you're a bit introverted like me. Often you depend on the number of people who trust you from their experience working with you that have switched companies and have come into a trusted position there. My career: ages 20-30: Individual contributor. ages 30-45: (Engineering) manager, running product development teams of va…
thinking about making a move towards management, for a similar reason: I really enjoy programming, but after slinging code for 8 hours at work, I can't justify working on my hobby projects when I come home anymore... hoping that by using more of my "soft skills" and thinking about architecture at work, I'll be able to come home and work something like a solitaire solver without feeling like it's "non-productive"
It will depend lots on the product/project. In my case the product we built went gangbusters for a decade. I ended up abusing/building Lego kits as form of mindless therapeutics while watching very-easy-to-digest sitcoms to wind down. I have quite the collection now.
Most products/projects aren't like that that though - but perhaps the pressure is still there?
Re: Reasons Not to Be a Manager (2019)
#10I don’t know about the part where Charity mentions it’s really really easy to get an Eng job than a manager one. As someone who got laid off recently, it sure as heck doesn’t feel that way. And the skills not being transferrable? How is being good in a particular field of tech _more_ transferable than management skills, which is arguably needed everywhere be it tech or not. Finally the credit/blame - managers and peo…
>As someone who got laid off recently, it sure as heck doesn’t feel that way.
Managers are not having any easier of a time finding jobs right now.