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What surprised you when you first became an engineering manager at a startup?
I hired an engineer yesterday, which makes us a two-person startup, and me a manager.
I've worked as a software engineer for almost a decade at a giant company, and mentored multiple junior engineers and interns, but I was never a people manager, and in any case, things are different in a tiny startup as compared to a giant company.
When surprised you when you first became an engineering manager at a startup?
- throwmeaway32 9y agoSorry not a startup manager; but people manager at one of the bigger tech companies, hope it's still relevant to you Main surprise was how much I had to become truly aware of exactly what I was saying and doing every moment of the work day, as the team really do start to embody what you project and that are directly influenced by you and how you act on every level. I knew this would of course be the case going into the role but seeing it play out in subtle ways of peoples behaviour is surprising. Without sounding condescending it can be like a parent, what you do becomes the standard even if you didn't intend it to be.
- twobyfour 9y agoJust how challenging it can be to switch gears between people management and development not just from minute to minute or hour to hour, but from day to day. It's very easy to get in a mindset where you spend weeks at a time thinking about people and process or weeks at a time thinking about code. And context switching between those mindsets is a process that's both jarring and slow.
- seattle_spring 9y agoIt surprised me how childish a lot of supposedly professional adults could be.
- JoeAltmaier 9y agoI knew the guys I hired, so no surprises. A remote site, grew to 19 people. Company was about 100 people. We worked very well together for years (until the buyout). My job was to insulate them from headquarters, let them work without interruption, report all successes and temper any issues. Go to bat for my guys so they participated in all benefits and didn't get left out.