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I find this GDC talk more concise and comprehensive, on the same topic: So They Made You a Lead, Now What? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z98rF3bllao https:/

I find this GDC talk more concise and comprehensive, on the same topic: So They Made You a Lead, Now What? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z98rF3bllao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z98rF3bllao

nimbius 9y ago
this feels incredibly familiar. either youre promoted to a lead, given no training, and fired or demoted when you dont succeed, or you're slowly just "recognized" as the lead without any overt assertion from management. The latter is the worst, because after a few month or even a year there is a tacit communal agreement among leadership that you're secretly the lead without ever defining what that is. pretty soon you're charged with everything from random powerpoint presentations to some midlevel managers incident/action reports with no real idea why its happening other than you're a 'subject matter expert.' It has a scarring effect ive found, anecdotally. Ive spent 12 years as a systems administrator in various contexts (traditional, devops, contract, etc..) and I've already declined a leadership role on the pretext that its just going to be system administration with the expectation with added clerical ditch-digging for the real management team.
- make3 9y ago
  "you're slowly just "recognized" as the lead without any overt assertion from management" can't you just ask for official recognition or find a new job that is a better fit for what you actually do? there are billions of jobs in software, if you have the skills to should be able to do so
  - Sammi 9y ago
    A well run organization should also be mandating regular bi annual meetings between employees and managers for goal setting. Both as an employer and as an employee you want to know what each others expectations are, so you should be following up on this continually. It's crucial for job satisfaction on both ends.
    - 33W 9y ago
      I think you may have meant semi-annual (every 6 months). In my opinion, every 3 to 6 months is a good checkpoint for a more formal evaluation, but that ongoing communication should take place through regular meetings every 1-2 weeks.
      - Sammi 9y ago
        Yes :)
- ataturk 9y ago
  My role as a lead was hell. My team was intentionally understaffed, the QA people would not cooperate, the sys admin team was constantly undermining us with their total lack of change management, the project management was terrible, the managers in the company didn't understand software development at all, and on top of all that, we had to follow byzantine processes (due to be a regulated industry--healthcare) such that any innovation was not only unwelcome but downright fought. Agile? Fuggedaboutit! I was in an impossible situation. With the help of one diligent team member, we still managed to pull off some major wins for that company. The only problem was it the cost me most of my sanity! The company never really gave a shit. Those four years left me completely broken and my career has not recovered from it. I learned what panic attacks are. I learned what GERD is. It's now nearly 4 years later and I'm still not sure what I'm doing. I've managed to pick up the pieces and improve my health. I'm still a developer and still married (thankfully). "Giant shit sandwich" pretty much sums up that whole experience. I have watched people younger than me move into lead and architect roles at other companies and meaningfully advance in their careers. I surmise that that kind of success may no longer be a possibility for me simply because I no longer care to take that risk over again. I'm back to where I was five years ago, albeit making more money, but I'm looking for the door, any door, not more developer work. The problem with the tech industry is that it is actually getting worse, not better: The demands are growing, timelines are shrinking, and there is no concern about the worker--you're a commodity to be used up and another acquired when you fall apart. Instead of IT groups driving projects, you have sales and marketing doing that and those groups don't care about tech at all, they only care about results and how fast you can achieve them.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- scarface74 9y ago
  this feels incredibly familiar. either youre promoted to a lead, given no training, and fired or demoted when you dont succeed I don't see any difference between not getting any leadership training and not getting technical training throughout your career. When I want to learn a new technology, I don't wait for the company to train me. I train myself. When I got thrust into leadership (see a previous comment to this story), I started training myself.
alexandercrohde 9y ago
I'm not impressed by this. It presents all the standard management cliches (set expectations, have empathy, learn to delegate) without ever addressing the real, valid conflicts that are so common.

I find this GDC talk more concise and comprehensive, on the same topic: So They Made You a Lead, Now What? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z98rF3bllao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z98rF3bllao

nimbius 9y ago

this feels incredibly familiar. either youre promoted to a lead, given no training, and fired or demoted when you dont succeed, or you're slowly just "recognized" as the lead without any overt assertion from management. The latter is the worst, because after a few month or even a year there is a tacit communal agreement among leadership that you're secretly the lead without ever defining what that is. pretty soon you're charged with everything from random powerpoint presentations to some midlevel managers incident/action reports with no real idea why its happening other than you're a 'subject matter expert.' It has a scarring effect ive found, anecdotally. Ive spent 12 years as a systems administrator in various contexts (traditional, devops, contract, etc..) and I've already declined a leadership role on the pretext that its just going to be system administration with the expectation with added clerical ditch-digging for the real management team.

make3 9y ago
"you're slowly just "recognized" as the lead without any overt assertion from management" can't you just ask for official recognition or find a new job that is a better fit for what you actually do? there are billions of jobs in software, if you have the skills to should be able to do so
- Sammi 9y ago
  A well run organization should also be mandating regular bi annual meetings between employees and managers for goal setting. Both as an employer and as an employee you want to know what each others expectations are, so you should be following up on this continually. It's crucial for job satisfaction on both ends.
  - 33W 9y ago
    I think you may have meant semi-annual (every 6 months). In my opinion, every 3 to 6 months is a good checkpoint for a more formal evaluation, but that ongoing communication should take place through regular meetings every 1-2 weeks.
    - Sammi 9y ago
      Yes :)
ataturk 9y ago
My role as a lead was hell. My team was intentionally understaffed, the QA people would not cooperate, the sys admin team was constantly undermining us with their total lack of change management, the project management was terrible, the managers in the company didn't understand software development at all, and on top of all that, we had to follow byzantine processes (due to be a regulated industry--healthcare) such that any innovation was not only unwelcome but downright fought. Agile? Fuggedaboutit! I was in an impossible situation. With the help of one diligent team member, we still managed to pull off some major wins for that company. The only problem was it the cost me most of my sanity! The company never really gave a shit. Those four years left me completely broken and my career has not recovered from it. I learned what panic attacks are. I learned what GERD is. It's now nearly 4 years later and I'm still not sure what I'm doing. I've managed to pick up the pieces and improve my health. I'm still a developer and still married (thankfully). "Giant shit sandwich" pretty much sums up that whole experience. I have watched people younger than me move into lead and architect roles at other companies and meaningfully advance in their careers. I surmise that that kind of success may no longer be a possibility for me simply because I no longer care to take that risk over again. I'm back to where I was five years ago, albeit making more money, but I'm looking for the door, any door, not more developer work. The problem with the tech industry is that it is actually getting worse, not better: The demands are growing, timelines are shrinking, and there is no concern about the worker--you're a commodity to be used up and another acquired when you fall apart. Instead of IT groups driving projects, you have sales and marketing doing that and those groups don't care about tech at all, they only care about results and how fast you can achieve them.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
scarface74 9y ago
this feels incredibly familiar. either youre promoted to a lead, given no training, and fired or demoted when you dont succeed I don't see any difference between not getting any leadership training and not getting technical training throughout your career. When I want to learn a new technology, I don't wait for the company to train me. I train myself. When I got thrust into leadership (see a previous comment to this story), I started training myself.

alexandercrohde 9y ago

I'm not impressed by this. It presents all the standard management cliches (set expectations, have empathy, learn to delegate) without ever addressing the real, valid conflicts that are so common.