Well designed questions... I might add "Do you like Strategy/the Big Picture or do you like digging into the details/implementation"... and "Company Politics and conflict - Fun or stress".
The horse is well out of the gate for me already... I'm a Sr. Engineering Manager looking at my Director step now... each step up the ladder just increases the... intensity I guess (gain to use an engineering term)... of all these questions.
The second one is a bit harder to judge, I think it's rare that people will say they like conflict and politics :) Maybe something like 'How much do you hate conflict and politics" - and you need to not hate them too much...
Yea the second one I was being flippant but I think it's an important one for folks to consider because it's one of the biggest things that drives Engineers out of Management roles in my experience (hate for the Politics). As I think about it I'd say it's the number two reason I've seen (regarding why tech managers might choose to go back to individual contributor roles) behind feeling like we're losing our technical edge/getting too far away from the things we love doing.
I’m still relatively really in my career, so I haven’t encountered much politics. Or maybe I just had luck :)
Regarding the main reason - yeah, desire for going back to coding is one of the most common ones. From what I’ve seen it’s the multitasking and craziness of the day that comes with the role that drive a lot of people back to development.
I think I enjoy the leadership and mentoring part one can have as a manager. I enjoy the 1:1s and enjoy more the high-level than the deep coding. But I think I prefer the high-level IC track rather than the EM track. There are some problems of people managers that I'd rather not have on my plate.
But it was an interesting reflection after reading your article. Who knows what my future self will decide
A question about the question: Do you like talking to people?
You wrote there in #2 - "I’m not getting tired from 1:1 conversations, and I’m ok with having a lot of active meetings."
Do you think this is something you can anticipate? I mean, having a 1 on 1 with someone you like is one thing, but having it with a person you might not like in the beginning or in the context of work is different, no?
1:1 conversations are not necessarily with your employees - as an engineer you have them with your manager, but you usually also talk with your peers, the PM, and maybe your manager’s manager once in a while.
I think that people can judge in advance if having a lot of 1:1 conversations and meetings is something that they can handle, or will tire them. For example, the 1:1 with my manager was always my favorite meeting of the week (not matter the quality of the manager).
A great question to ask. Moving into a manager role requires a much different skill set and often, there isn’t a lot of training to go along with that promtion. You are going to have a lot to learn so make sure that sounds like a path you are excited about pursuing.
I definitely think it’ll be a good fit for you. There are additional traits I didn’t cover here, such as enjoying mentoring, be able to express yourself, and being able to break down big projects for your people that I think you’ll score high on.
Thank you Swapna. I think that question is a bit too general, and hard to answer about yourself, most people will instinctively say 'yes'. Maybe something like: "When people ask you for help, what is your initial reaction?"
1. I prefer to not be distrubed
2. I'm ok with it if they formulated the question well and I respect them
I guess the question can be reframed to know whether or not individuals feel accomplished knowing that they are able to give others a stage to succeed and take a backseat. Reason being I have managers who struggle with this. Letting your engineers run a meeting and understanding your success is not in running the meeting successfully but coaching your engineers to do so is crucial.
Well designed questions... I might add "Do you like Strategy/the Big Picture or do you like digging into the details/implementation"... and "Company Politics and conflict - Fun or stress".
The horse is well out of the gate for me already... I'm a Sr. Engineering Manager looking at my Director step now... each step up the ladder just increases the... intensity I guess (gain to use an engineering term)... of all these questions.
The first one is a good addition!
The second one is a bit harder to judge, I think it's rare that people will say they like conflict and politics :) Maybe something like 'How much do you hate conflict and politics" - and you need to not hate them too much...
Yea the second one I was being flippant but I think it's an important one for folks to consider because it's one of the biggest things that drives Engineers out of Management roles in my experience (hate for the Politics). As I think about it I'd say it's the number two reason I've seen (regarding why tech managers might choose to go back to individual contributor roles) behind feeling like we're losing our technical edge/getting too far away from the things we love doing.
I’m still relatively really in my career, so I haven’t encountered much politics. Or maybe I just had luck :)
Regarding the main reason - yeah, desire for going back to coding is one of the most common ones. From what I’ve seen it’s the multitasking and craziness of the day that comes with the role that drive a lot of people back to development.
Hey Anton, this was such an engaging article!
I scored a 6, I didn't expect it by any means :)
I think I enjoy the leadership and mentoring part one can have as a manager. I enjoy the 1:1s and enjoy more the high-level than the deep coding. But I think I prefer the high-level IC track rather than the EM track. There are some problems of people managers that I'd rather not have on my plate.
But it was an interesting reflection after reading your article. Who knows what my future self will decide
Thanks Fran! Keep your options open :) as you said, who knows what the future will bring to you.
A question about the question: Do you like talking to people?
You wrote there in #2 - "I’m not getting tired from 1:1 conversations, and I’m ok with having a lot of active meetings."
Do you think this is something you can anticipate? I mean, having a 1 on 1 with someone you like is one thing, but having it with a person you might not like in the beginning or in the context of work is different, no?
1:1 conversations are not necessarily with your employees - as an engineer you have them with your manager, but you usually also talk with your peers, the PM, and maybe your manager’s manager once in a while.
I think that people can judge in advance if having a lot of 1:1 conversations and meetings is something that they can handle, or will tire them. For example, the 1:1 with my manager was always my favorite meeting of the week (not matter the quality of the manager).
In my experience, engineers who were promoted to a leading position with that 1:1 attribute weren't always good, sometimes even straight up bad.
You can work on almost anything and even if you hate 1:1s, you can be creative to make it better and easier for you to handle :)
This is such a creative article! Love it - the talking to people question is such a good one
Thanks Leo! :)
A great question to ask. Moving into a manager role requires a much different skill set and often, there isn’t a lot of training to go along with that promtion. You are going to have a lot to learn so make sure that sounds like a path you are excited about pursuing.
Yeah, I think that proper training is VERY, you’ll basically have to train yourself.
Loved this!
It's great because I think I roughly had these in my head but hadn't done a full on weighted scoring or anything like that.
I got 8 points.
Looking forward to the time I try out EM-ship :D
I definitely think it’ll be a good fit for you. There are additional traits I didn’t cover here, such as enjoying mentoring, be able to express yourself, and being able to break down big projects for your people that I think you’ll score high on.
I’ve got 8 as well and I enjoy it :)
Nice quiz and thoughts!
Thanks Tino!
Love it ! Looks like that’s not the job for me 😅
Thanks! Which question tripped you up? 😅
All of them 😅. But especially the one about focus
Yeah, that's an important one :) A lot of fresh manager are really frustrating by the constant context switches.
Love it I would add one more question
“do you get sense of accomplishment by helping others reach their goals”
Thank you Swapna. I think that question is a bit too general, and hard to answer about yourself, most people will instinctively say 'yes'. Maybe something like: "When people ask you for help, what is your initial reaction?"
1. I prefer to not be distrubed
2. I'm ok with it if they formulated the question well and I respect them
3. I'll gladly help.
Very well said
I guess the question can be reframed to know whether or not individuals feel accomplished knowing that they are able to give others a stage to succeed and take a backseat. Reason being I have managers who struggle with this. Letting your engineers run a meeting and understanding your success is not in running the meeting successfully but coaching your engineers to do so is crucial.