Becoming an Engineering Manager

Understand if this is the right path for you

You have mastered the technical skills required for your role
You have been tech lead for a few years
You are a good team player enjoy working with your fellow software engineers
You have managed people
the next step for you maybe engineering manager

“What else would you possibly need to be an engineering manager?”

The path to engineering management is not as simple as you may have hoped.

In fact each company will have a different needs for this career path so its very important to understand what the day to day looks like. Some tech companies put senior engineers on the same level as their engineering managers for example. Engineering management is a linear and alternate career track to software engineering.

With that in mind, let me share with you ten criteria to be a successful engineering manager:

You Live to Code and You Take Utmost Pride in Your Ability to Write Beautiful Clean Code

Did you ever look down on those who failed to write beautiful clean code and solve complex problems with simplicity?
Do you ever feel like you can’t go by a day without writing some code?
If there was an offsite or a team-building event where you had to be away from your computer the entire day, did you feel exhausted and unaccomplished at the end of the day?
If you answered yes to one of the above questions, then you will be challenged mentally when you become an engineer manager.
Because, as an engineering manager, you will spend most of your time talking to people, organizing work, planning and collaborating, instead of spending time coding and solving technical problems.

You Can’t Stand Doing Mundane Admin Work

You dislike admin tasks example doing a performance review.

You Think Technical Skills Are the Most Important Skills to Have

By technical skills I mean coding skills. If someone doesn’t code, you immediately consider them non-technical.
That project manager you are not sure what they do?

You Think Every Software Engineer Is Just Like You

Unicorn and hero development is what you like.

You Have Never Thought Much About Other Disciplines

You have never thought much about other disciplines such as design, product management, and marketing.
Who are the creators, makers, and innovators?

You immediately answer: “Software engineers. Other disciplines exist so they can support software engineers,” you say.

You Believe Software Engineers Make the World Go Round

As you were.

You Think Any Kind of Meetings Are a Waste of Time

Too many meetings
1:1s, estimation meetings, planning meetings, all-hands etc are a waste of time if you are completely being honest.

You Are a Night Owl and You Don’t Start Your Day Before 10am

“Isn’t it what flexible work is all about?” you say.

You Don’t Understand Why Good Communication Skills Are So Important

“Write good code and it will speak for itself,” you say to yourself.
You dislike writing status updates about the project you’re working on or doing a presentation on what you and your team have built.

You Avoid Confrontation at All Cost

You prefer harmony and you’d rather keep your mouth shut and mind your own business than to point out a mistake that could put your project off-track.
When asked to give feedback about your team member, you keep it short and sweet, literally.

Summary

If you are nodding whilst reading the list above? Then you may not be ready to be an engineering manager just yet.

But that does not mean you will never be. The most important step to achieving your goal of becoming an engineering manager is to be aware of what you need to do.

Change your mindset. 
Once you have the right mindset and attitude, the rest will follow.

Management is, above all, a practice where art, science, and craft meet — Henry Mintzberg