Engineers have been reaching a common ceiling in their careers for decades. The pattern goes like this: an individual contributor gets promoted to a senior software engineer, and their career trajectory levels off. Likewise, an IC who transitions to an Engineering Manager often hits a similar wall, wondering if they’ll ever advance to a senior manager or director. In the […]
Alright, this is gonna be a long one. And not just a one-time thing. I’ll keep updating it as I write more about leadership. I’ll try to link everything I’ve written before. This one’s the one, just like in the Matrix. All the things I wish I had when I first stepped into managing. There are so many damn questions […]
I remember one of my directs stepping into a new manager role, only to inherit a team with one or two employees who just weren’t cutting it. From day one, it was a challenge. He hesitated. He first tried to avoid HR, sidestep PIPs, and hoped things would somehow work themselves out. And honestly? I get it. When you’re managing […]
As an IC, you close your laptop at 6 PM, log off, and forget about the work unless you are oncall. As a manager, you check Slack at 10 PM because someone might need you. Your calendar looks like there’s no time to do anything and you haven’t had an actual deep focus hour in weeks. Sounds familiar? Welcome to […]
When managing managers or leaders, there will be times when you feel that the right course of action differs from their opinion. It could be related to rating an employee, deciding whether to give someone a second chance, or focusing on a particular business area. You see the situation differently, yet your people leader holds a contrary view. After all, […]