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Alex Aitken

Technical and Engineering Leadership, Coaching, and Mentorship

“Am I There Yet?” Said an Engineer

July 19, 2024 By Alex Leave a Comment

How do you know if you’re ready to switch careers and become an engineering manager? That question has been asked often since I made the switch several years ago. I’ve written previously about how I trained engineers to be managers, but that’s only part of the problem. The better question is are you ready for the change?

Have the Conversation

This isn’t a comprehensive list of how to become an engineering manager. What I look for in managers will differ from what your manager (or manager’s manager) is looking for. The best way to start is to have a conversation with your manager about what they think you need to get there. This will already help you by having your manager on your side and hopefully, they will be on the lookout for opportunities for you when they arise.

Find out what an engineering manager does. You’ve probably read articles online (or some books) and “kind of” observed your manager. Every company is different. The way I think of the engineering manager role is that they do what the team is missing (on top of the administrative things.) No technical lead? That’s your new role as well. No project management? Say hello to spreadsheets (maybe). No standard process? Let’s write some docs. Ask your engineering manager what they do. Why do they attend particular meetings? How do they work with little focus time? How do they own their schedule? Who do they say no to?

The last thing you need to know is that when you become a manager your peer group will shrink and not get larger. Ensure that you’re comfortable with this as it’s hard for managers and engineers to be friends (not impossible – but remember the power dynamics at play). You’ll find solace with your new engineering manager peers. They will be your new team. A new concept for you to think about is the “first team.” That is, the managers under your director/head/manager will be your new team – the peers you should work with.

Tell Me Why

One of the first questions I ask engineers is why they want to be engineering managers. There is no single right answer. It’s personal and depends on each person and the company. If the company only has “one track” for going “up” the answer will almost always be because it’s the next stage. Not because they want to be a manager, but because they feel pressure to go “up” or have more commitments in life and need more money (and the next salary band is a manager’s only club). The answer will be more personal if the company has multiple tracks beyond senior engineers.

As a mentor/coach, we speak about this often. I want to ensure that we are putting the right people in place. The first place people look to leadership and direction are managers and so we want to ensure the right culture fit. Managers have the upper hand in power dynamics due to their administrative duties (performance reviews etc), so we should be careful that any new manager is there for the right reasons.

I mention the right reasons and that there is no single right answer (a bit contradictory). Why? Because people managing is messy. Being an engineer is clean, you have code and code is absolute. There can be right and wrong ways to write it and rules that engineers follow. When dealing with people, suddenly rulebooks get thrown out the window. What you read in one book or what someone told you will not apply to everyone. There’s a lot of on-the-job learning and growing to do.

Don’t get too caught up on what is the right reason why. It just needs to be reasonable and demonstrate your passion for people. Sometimes an answer as simple as “I liked it when I was mentoring Alex, it felt good to see him master React.”

Show Me Why

Before we carry on with how to be a manager, show me why you should be a manager. You should be good at your job; someone I can rely on and not have to micro-manage. Now you may ask why this is important – and it’s a good question as we’ve all seen incompetent or non-technical managers. In my experience, the best engineering managers are those who have seen the problems before, people who know when to avoid traps of perfection or building for the future (scale).

To be a good engineering manager you should have experience that your team can trust. You’ve built something from start to finish and have maintained legacy code. You’ve gone through different stacks or technologies to understand your strengths and weaknesses. Do you know what makes code more maintainable and durable?

Ideally, you’ve been in the industry for several years. This gets you through several framework cycles (and rewrites.) You know where the painpoints are for engineers and can now describe them to your product managers or business counterparts. You breathe the best practices in the industry but also know when you can bend the rules.

There is no standard length of service as an engineer before you become an engineering manager. As I comb through job listings, engineering experience ranges from three to ten years of experience building things. My advice is: to make it to senior engineer at minimum before considering a career swap. That way you know what you’re doing and how to do it and you know if your team is pulling your leg.

Show Me How

Before we begin the transition, you need to show me how you manage with influence. I have a question for you to consider. How do you plan to manage your engineers if you cannot manage your team now with influence (no direct power)? If your answer is to tell them what to do, you might find yourself without a team very quickly.

There are multiple ways to show how you manage the team with influence. So, let’s go through some of them and how you can start (if you haven’t already). You can: manage up, be a mentor/buddy, be a lead/PIC on projects, project manage, lead meetings, be an owner, do the boring stuff, or manage your time well.

Managing Up

Managing up is the most important thing you can do for your career. This means being reliable and giving your managers the information they need when they need it. There are plenty of articles out there on how to manage up. Mostly it’s about letting your manager not have to think about managing you (i.e. self management.) When you can do this well, you’re on the path to management.

Mentorship

Being a mentor to a teammate or even a buddy to a new joiner is a surefire way to prove you’re on your way to people management. One of the aspects of management to get your team to the next level is coaching. Proving to yourself and your manager that you can mentor others and improve them will help you on your journey.

Leading Projects

Taking the lead on projects (technically) will help you make decisions that will affect the entire team and make or break project delivery timelines. How will you architect this feature? Why did you architect it this way? How do you respond to criticism/feedback from others? The bigger the project you lead, the better you make your manager look, and the more opportunities that will open.

Managing Projects

Not many people like managing projects (TPMs excluded.) Help yourself learn more about administrative duties, stakeholder management, and relationship management by taking over project management from your current manager. What compromises do you need to make to ensure your team delivers? How do you stop relationships from breaking down when deadlines loom? These are key skills engineering managers need to master.

Leading Meetings

Being able to facilitate meetings is a core skill of engineering managers. You should ensure you’re not wasting everyone’s time and that decisions are recorded and locked down – especially ones around the scope. Simple meetings like standups or scrum meetings (if you follow that) will help you start. More complex decision-making meetings can come later when you’ve built the relationships.

Ownership

Prove to me that you are an owner. Prove to me that you really care. As a manager, you will be the most business-focused person on your team. Care about what the team wants to achieve and help them get there.

Doing the Boring Stuff

Likely you’ve had your conversation with your manager. You’ll know the boring parts of their job (or at least what they find boring.) Do these! If you cannot do the boring stuff now, why will you be able to do it later when you’re a manager?

Time Management

Being a manager means you move from the maker schedule to the manager schedule. Prepare for interruptions. That means less focus time. You’ll need to show me now that you can manage your time well and you don’t leave everything until the last minute.

Build Your Network

Managing people is also managing relationships. You’ll have a better time as a first-time manager if you’ve already built a network of peers. Talk with other engineering managers at the company you’re working at. This network of connections will help you succeed when you need to ask favours.

Talk to the non-engineering folks across the organization and find their problems. What are designers frustrated about with engineering? What do the customer support team wish that you would focus on? Yes, product management should be doing the groundwork, but as a product engineer, you should give a damn.

Finally, talk to other engineering managers outside your organization. Remember when I said each company is different? Find out what their job is like and what they do day-in and day-out. You can find people willing to give their time on ADPList (or reach out on LinkedIn).

Opportunity and Persistence

You won’t get a career change without asking but you can’t lead without a team either. The right opportunity needs to come along and you be the best matching candidate for the job. To do this, you need to have your network and demonstrate your competence in management. Normally, I don’t like promoting people within their team as becoming a manager is hard enough. Becoming a manager to your peers is isolating. So, you’ll likely have to wait for other teams to grow and need additional help.

As many wise people say, a career is a marathon. There’s no need to rush into management. There’s been a push against the middle management of zero-percent interest rates. You’ll find a career in engineering management trickier than ever and expectations across the industry not aligned (it’s even murkier the higher you go).

The best opportunities come from within. Swapping career paths and companies is hard. How do you demonstrate management without management experience? Be patient and find a mentor who can help guide you in the right direction.

TLDR

  • Start a conversation with your manager.
  • Know what you’ll be doing in the role.
  • Find your network.
  • Know why you want to change careers.
  • Be good at your current job.
  • Start managing with influence.
  • Be patient and wait for the right opportunity.

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Alex is an AVP of Engineering currently working at Bukalapak. He is a leader in full-stack technologies. Read More…

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