From engineer to manager - taking the next step!
Tips for growing your career from an individual contributor to a manager.
Are you interested in becoming an engineering manager but don't know where to start? Do you feel like your career has hit a plateau and needs a new direction? I understand how you feel because I was in the same position in early 2015.
Firstly, it's important to note that management isn't for everyone, and there are alternative ways to grow your career and achieve success. In a future post, I'll cover how to determine whether or not management is right for you. For now, let's assume that you've decided to pursue people management and need guidance on how to make the transition. Here are my top tips to help you:
Act like a manager: Observe what your manager does on a daily basis and find ways to assist. Your manager's tasks will likely include hiring, mentoring engineers, planning team roadmaps, and resolving conflicts. Start small and gradually expand the scope of your contribution. For example, you can begin by planning your project's roadmap, asking for feedback, and incorporating it into your work going forward.
Develop a career plan: Collaborate with your manager to create a career development plan that aligns with your goal of becoming a manager. Review the plan regularly in your 1:1 meetings and take corrective action if necessary. By doing this early, you will also make it clear to your leadership that you're interested in management, and give them adequate time to plan for it.
Mentor junior engineers in the team: Identify ways to help junior engineers grow in areas such as technical skills, communication, and career development. These engineers may be your future reports, so it's important to build a positive rapport with them.
Foster a positive team culture: Culture is the collection of behaviors and actions that are rewarded and discouraged in a team. Positive team culture is an essential skill for any manager. While this may sound intimidating, you can take a few simple steps to make a positive contribution to the team culture. Observe the actions of your peers, and come up with a list of good actions you want to promote and bad ones you want to discourage. Encourage good actions by calling them up and congratulating the team members in team meetings and team channels. Discourage the bad actions by bringing them up with your manager, and coming up with plans to address them. Pro tip: Always call people out by name when you are congratulating them, but never call people out when you are bringing up bad behaviors.
Work on growing projects: If you struggle to move into management despite following these tips, it may be due to a lack of growth opportunities within your team. This is typically not in your control and could be due to a variety of reasons (leadership priorities, macroeconomic challenges, too many senior folks in your team, etc.). If this happens, discuss with your manager and other leaders in your org about their near-term priorities, and if there are newer projects you can help out and eventually lead. New projects typically need new engineers who could report to you in the future. If this option is also not available, it may be time for you to look for a new team with better opportunities.
If you've recently transitioned into management, what strategies did you find most helpful? Did you try these tips and not find success? If so, feel free to email me, and I'm happy to help. Goodbye for now! 👋