I’ve been through my fair share of engineering interviews over the past few years. I’ve looked at large companies and smaller start-ups like companies. Everyone has a different process, but there’s one thing in common: you need to have stories. Being a leader is being a storyteller. I’ve added some tips below to help you […]
It’s hard when you have someone sandbagging your team. The underperformer is dragging everyone down with their performance – but it’s also hard to eliminate them. You know them, and you’ve built up a rapport. You know about their family and their struggles over the past few years. Ideally, we shouldn’t be here. Everyone should […]
We’ve considered what we value as an engineering manager (or leader). How can you do performance appraisals without a concrete framework for evaluation? How do you evaluate those wishy-washy soft skills that are so clearly not objective? And does being a good manager mean that you will perform well? Today, I’ll discuss engineering management. What […]
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 […]
Recently, I had a small debate with other leaders on the impact of communication and its role across the team. We debated that repeating material in the town hall format adds no value and that they would prefer smaller more personal modes of communication. I believe that we need to communicate widely and personally. The […]
Essay Leadership Management Strategy
An engineering strategy goes beyond your OKRs (if that’s what you use for goal setting). It goes into where you want the organization to be in the next few years. As a leader, you need to decide the short-term tactics you wish to use and your long-term plays. A strategy doesn’t necessarily need to be […]
Last year, I wrote a post after about 6 months being a manager of a rather large team (two pizzas would definitely not be enough to feed them). I wrote about the types of questions I ask during 1:1s. Here’s a little update as to why you shouldn’t really follow my advice anymore. Following a […]
I was recently given the opportunity to train an engineer in my team to take over my role. This engineer volunteered to become a people manager. Now, obviously, not everyone is cut out for people management. This is just a few of the steps I took to help transition the engineer. 1. Determine their motivations […]
Quick intro: I recently switched my career path. I was a tech lead, which basically means that I lead a project but I had no reports, and now I’m an Engineering Manager. As an Engineering Manager, I longer “lead” a project in the technical sense, I am responsible for people. What I want to talk […]
