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Ask HN: Advice for Moving from Tech Lead to Manager/Director Position?
Hi HN,
I work for a well known company in Bay area as Tech Lead. I don't have direct people management responsibility but I do manage team from technical aspects. I would say I am good at what I do, though far from expert.
I make my point and get along with people often. I sense mutual respect from few members of my team and almost all of business partners.
I want to move to management and perform role of manager. I have talked this numerous times with my manager. Problem is that my manager is less of technical guy and doesn't seem like he wants to support my career growth. He is of similar age as me.
What and how do I move into managerial/director position ?
I am getting tired of day-to-day technical stuff where it's your fault when smallest thing goes wrong and it's everyone's efforts when things go right. There is also great degree of undercutting happening from equal senior members of my team. I don't want to be manager of my own team but moving in Org is not feasible due to internal politics anytime soon.
TBH, it seems that managers/directors have less and less work I have seen in multiple companies I worked for. All they do is preach / talk and present. I am not making gross generalization but it seems that manager/director job has far more security than being tech lead.
I was not born in US but I studied all my life in English. I don't sound like an american when I talk. People understand me fine though. I know I have to work hard on communication skills and I plan to do so.
What other steps shall I undertake in order to advance my career to manager/director position ?
- cjbprime 11y ago> All they do is preach and preach / talk and present. I am not making gross generalization but it seems that job has far more security than being tech lead. I don't think you understand enough about being a manager yet. Are you interested enough in becoming one to do things like reading books on effective people management, and treating it as a skill to be learned over a long time? If not.. there are worse things than being a tech lead. :)
- yoyojk 11y agoSorry if I came off as rude. What I meant was job security increases X fold when you are a manager. Yes, I am absolutely interested in reading and learning everything I can. Do you have any resources where to get started ?
- guiambros 11y agoI don't understand why you're thinking about "job security". Job security comes from being a high performing professional - manager or not. If security is really your main driver, you should look for a company that rewards average performers with lifetime employment - there's plenty of those. The question "where do I start as a manager" is fundamentally wrong. Effective managers are leaders - and not all leaders are managers. You should focus on sharpening your leadership skills first. Lead projects, initiatives, product launches, events, pick up things that nobody else wants (but you know are important). Learn to influence people, give and receive feedback, develop negotiation skills, invest in becoming a better communicator. Those are all important parts of being a leader, and you'll have to demonstrate it in practice before being promoted to being a people manager. Also, you should talk to your manager, ask for candid feedback on which areas you need to work on in order to become a manager in the future. Not today, or 6 months from now, but "in the future". That is distant enough that won't trigger any alarms, thinking that you're ready to quit. Lastly, ready everything you can. Here's a few, to get you started (in no particular order): Work Rules, Crucial Conversations, The Hard Thing about Hard Things, Search Inside Yourself, Strengths Finder, The Power of Habit, Lean In, How to Win Friends, Zero to One.
- nostrademons 11y agoNew managers get promoted when there's a need for one. Sometimes that's because the existing manager is moving up, or because they're leaving the company or transferring to another department, or just because the department is growing and lots of new employees are coming on. The most dependable path to becoming a manager is actually the last one, making sure that you join a high-growth department in a high-growth company. That said: "I am getting tired of day-to-day technical stuff where it's your fault when smallest thing goes wrong and it's everyone's efforts when things go right." If you dislike this, then you will suck at being a manager. It's the manager's job to take the bullet when things go wrong and pass on the credit when things go right. That's the only way you can create an environment where your reports feel safe in taking risks and working their hardest on a high-value problem. It's also a manager's job to navigate internal politics and advocate for their team. If you don't do this effectively, both you and your reports will end up marginalized, and you'll find that your best reports will transfer away. If your problem is that there's too much internal politics and you're sick of it, that's usually a problem with the company (or sometimes just the department), and is best solved by switching companies to one that higher-growth, where everybody is too busy to undercut each other, or alternatively by getting better at politics.
- Trundle 11y agoDistributing praise/criticism to maximise productivity and morale, rather than to reflect the truth, is part of managing people. You should adopt a mindset/philosophy that makes this seem intuitive to you before you progress further imo.