4 ms·

Ten years and you have never led anybody? Think back, I am sure there were moments where you led/guided/coached peers or were a sparring partner. You should se

Ten years and you have never led anybody? Think back, I am sure there were moments where you led/guided/coached peers or were a sparring partner. You should sell those experiences as first steps into being a leader. However, you should be aware that managing and coding are so different, even if it's in the same field. Managing people is tough and you learn it by doing.

ryandrake 9y ago
The author seems to be pretty clear about having been a team lead but never having directly managed anyone. Huge difference. Having a similar background myself, I can say this is probably one of the biggest hurdles if you're looking to get into management. You can talk at length about mentorship and leading through influence and judgment and all the stuff that goes with being a "technical lead" but it doesn't make much of a difference--they want someone who's had direct reports. It's the typical hiring chicken-and-egg problem: You need experience doing X to get a job doing X. People management is no different.
- awinder 9y ago
  If you don’t mind me asking, how did you bridge that gap and how have you liked that move in career? Just curious about your experience
  - ryandrake 9y ago
    Sadly, I have not bridged that gap (YET!). In the past I've made lateral transitions into product management and project management, but these roles, like "engineer" are individual contributor roles and have similar career limitations.
  - Mahh 9y ago
    I'm not the person you responded to, but I did also recently make a transition from an individual contributor role into a management role and can share some experiences. In addition to taking on more leadership roles in engineering projects, I began finding and taking on opportunities on the side that have a managerial element to them, for instance recruiting (sourcing, behavioral interviews, selling candidates, redesigning our interviewing processes), mentoring/coaching people, driving our company's internship program, etc. I found that I enjoyed that sort of nontechnical work. In particular, I liked thinking about how to grow other people and help them be effective. I vaguely started thinking that I wanted to just switch into management, and I advertised that fact (mostly to managers). I wasn't too urgent about it, and an opportunity showed up [after a few months] and the management team thought of me first as someone who could be a good fit. Part of what made it a good fit was that the team was not 'on fire' or anything, so if I were to do a bad job or realize I didn't like management and thus needed to switch back, the company wouldn't be in a particularly bad situation.
- rootforce 9y ago
  I would agree that I wouldn't typically hire a manager from outside my company if they have no previous time in that role, mostly because ramping up on all of the internal company structure, technology and processes is enough to keep people quite busy without having to learn how to be a people manager. That being said, I feel the opposite about internal hires. One of the great joys of being a manager is coaching and mentoring the next generation of managers and having a healthy pipeline of candidates serves your company well.
  - cpeterso 9y ago
    The book What Color Is Your Parachute? recommended that people looking to make a career change do it in two steps: changing your job/role and then industry/company (or vice versa).
- johnbellone 9y ago
  I've heard lots of names for managers, but never had someone called a "team lead" and not had direct reports.
  - ryandrake 9y ago
    Well now you have. Nice to meet you!
  - _delirium 9y ago
    It's reasonably common for there to be a "first among equals" type situation where the person with a title like "technical lead" or "team lead" has technical decision-making authority within the team, but isn't formally a manager of any of the team members in the HR sense.
    - spacefeast 9y ago
      Never thought about it as "first among equals", this is true.
    - johnbellone 9y ago
      Yep, "technical lead" is that in my head, but perhaps that's because a "team lead" is line manager everywhere I have been.

ryandrake 9y ago

The author seems to be pretty clear about having been a team lead but never having directly managed anyone. Huge difference. Having a similar background myself, I can say this is probably one of the biggest hurdles if you're looking to get into management. You can talk at length about mentorship and leading through influence and judgment and all the stuff that goes with being a "technical lead" but it doesn't make much of a difference--they want someone who's had direct reports. It's the typical hiring chicken-and-egg problem: You need experience doing X to get a job doing X. People management is no different.

awinder 9y ago
If you don’t mind me asking, how did you bridge that gap and how have you liked that move in career? Just curious about your experience
- ryandrake 9y ago
  Sadly, I have not bridged that gap (YET!). In the past I've made lateral transitions into product management and project management, but these roles, like "engineer" are individual contributor roles and have similar career limitations.
- Mahh 9y ago
  I'm not the person you responded to, but I did also recently make a transition from an individual contributor role into a management role and can share some experiences. In addition to taking on more leadership roles in engineering projects, I began finding and taking on opportunities on the side that have a managerial element to them, for instance recruiting (sourcing, behavioral interviews, selling candidates, redesigning our interviewing processes), mentoring/coaching people, driving our company's internship program, etc. I found that I enjoyed that sort of nontechnical work. In particular, I liked thinking about how to grow other people and help them be effective. I vaguely started thinking that I wanted to just switch into management, and I advertised that fact (mostly to managers). I wasn't too urgent about it, and an opportunity showed up [after a few months] and the management team thought of me first as someone who could be a good fit. Part of what made it a good fit was that the team was not 'on fire' or anything, so if I were to do a bad job or realize I didn't like management and thus needed to switch back, the company wouldn't be in a particularly bad situation.
rootforce 9y ago
I would agree that I wouldn't typically hire a manager from outside my company if they have no previous time in that role, mostly because ramping up on all of the internal company structure, technology and processes is enough to keep people quite busy without having to learn how to be a people manager. That being said, I feel the opposite about internal hires. One of the great joys of being a manager is coaching and mentoring the next generation of managers and having a healthy pipeline of candidates serves your company well.
- cpeterso 9y ago
  The book What Color Is Your Parachute? recommended that people looking to make a career change do it in two steps: changing your job/role and then industry/company (or vice versa).
johnbellone 9y ago
I've heard lots of names for managers, but never had someone called a "team lead" and not had direct reports.
- ryandrake 9y ago
  Well now you have. Nice to meet you!
- _delirium 9y ago
  It's reasonably common for there to be a "first among equals" type situation where the person with a title like "technical lead" or "team lead" has technical decision-making authority within the team, but isn't formally a manager of any of the team members in the HR sense.
  - spacefeast 9y ago
    Never thought about it as "first among equals", this is true.
  - johnbellone 9y ago
    Yep, "technical lead" is that in my head, but perhaps that's because a "team lead" is line manager everywhere I have been.