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How does one transition into management without prior management experience? This is a genuine question I've been wanting to move out of engineering for a while

How does one transition into management without prior management experience? This is a genuine question I've been wanting to move out of engineering for a while but it's been very hard so far to get into non-eng positions. (No luck so far). Do you just talk to your direct supervisior and lay out your career path wants or do you need to look for another position at some other shop or what's a working strategy here?

steveklabnik 7y ago
I recently transitioned to being a product manager. In my organization, that doesn't mean I have any reports, but I am responsible for what my team does and why we're doing it. (They have an engineering manager that determines the 'how we're doing it' and all engineers report to the EM.) In my case, it was a sort of give and take in both directions. They needed a PM, and I had been doing some product work, mostly in the open source world, and wanted to give it a try professionally. They were explicit that being a first time PM was okay, and I was that I would be one. I've been enjoying it a lot so far.
- mwcampbell 7y ago
  That sounds a lot like the role at Microsoft that was historically called "program manager", though some orgs there are starting to call that role "product manager" as well. Disclosure: I'm a dev at Microsoft, on the Windows accessibility team.
xythian 7y ago
Yes. You should be having this kind of career conversation with your current manager. Together, you should be able to find opportunities to grow and test out manager-like skills (e.g., hiring and managing an intern, mentoring junior devs, becoming a team lead, etc). Camille Fournier's book, The Manager's Path, is a good read for learning about some of the common transitions from IC to manager to executive in software engineering. http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920056843.do http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920056843.do
inerte 7y ago
Yes, talk to your manager. They will hopefully either mentor/coach you and/or find people to do it. If you don't let them know, once a manager role opens in your org, even if your name comes up as a potential person, anyone else who has asked for it and is being groomed to become a manager will probably get ahead of you. So, be that person instead.
vkou 7y ago
> How does one transition into management without prior management experience? You don't. You build management experience. 1. Manage an intern. 2. Manage a junior's project. 3. Lead a three-person project. 4. Fill in for your manager's organizational work (planning meetings, higher level status syncs, etc) when they are on vacation. Talk to your manager about doing these things, and why you want to do them. If the conversation doesn't go well, then you're in the wrong org to make it work.
- cmdshiftf4 7y ago
  +1 to all of this. Keep in mind that organizations will virtually always want to promote from within. The easiest way to show that you're capable of moving from Senior Eng to Staff Eng, or Senior Eng to Management is by meaningfully showing that you both understand what is expected in those roles, and that you're actively trying to incorporate those expectations into your every day work. You should discuss the various roles / directions available to you with your manager, learn the expectations involved in those roles and work together to find opportunities that will help you move into those roles. One thing, regardless of the direction you go in, that you can start working on right away is communication skills.
alexandercrohde 7y ago
1. Most people who want to manage won't, period. That's just the math, ICs outnumber managers severalfold. 2. Many people will never become managers because they don't seem "managery." They don't dress right, they don't use the right buzzwords, they have a speech impediment, they speak too truthfully. There are all sorts of cultural factors too that people don't admit. For example, no manager would ever say this point 2 to you, because it's too honest and potentially upsetting. 3. A lot of people will only promote you to manager if they think you'll be able to make them look good, and that's the end of it.
- meristem 7y ago
  +1 on point 2, no matter how terrible this sounds. Unfortunately this means decoding what your manager, and your organization, understand a manager to look like/talk like/act like.
- pm90 7y ago
  The reason for 2. is mostly a fear that such a person might not be very effective at communicating, convincing and listening to others. There is certainly also an element of social charisma to it. I don’t think it is something that can’t be learned though; in fact I imagine most people that become managers perhaps take the time to do just that.... almost like a self fulfilling prophecy. Nobody is born a manager.
JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
I'd imagine a team lead engineering role would be the transition between individual contributor and management roles.

steveklabnik 7y ago

I recently transitioned to being a product manager. In my organization, that doesn't mean I have any reports, but I am responsible for what my team does and why we're doing it. (They have an engineering manager that determines the 'how we're doing it' and all engineers report to the EM.) In my case, it was a sort of give and take in both directions. They needed a PM, and I had been doing some product work, mostly in the open source world, and wanted to give it a try professionally. They were explicit that being a first time PM was okay, and I was that I would be one. I've been enjoying it a lot so far.

mwcampbell 7y ago
That sounds a lot like the role at Microsoft that was historically called "program manager", though some orgs there are starting to call that role "product manager" as well. Disclosure: I'm a dev at Microsoft, on the Windows accessibility team.

xythian 7y ago

Yes. You should be having this kind of career conversation with your current manager. Together, you should be able to find opportunities to grow and test out manager-like skills (e.g., hiring and managing an intern, mentoring junior devs, becoming a team lead, etc). Camille Fournier's book, The Manager's Path, is a good read for learning about some of the common transitions from IC to manager to executive in software engineering. http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920056843.do http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920056843.do

inerte 7y ago

Yes, talk to your manager. They will hopefully either mentor/coach you and/or find people to do it. If you don't let them know, once a manager role opens in your org, even if your name comes up as a potential person, anyone else who has asked for it and is being groomed to become a manager will probably get ahead of you. So, be that person instead.

vkou 7y ago

> How does one transition into management without prior management experience? You don't. You build management experience. 1. Manage an intern. 2. Manage a junior's project. 3. Lead a three-person project. 4. Fill in for your manager's organizational work (planning meetings, higher level status syncs, etc) when they are on vacation. Talk to your manager about doing these things, and why you want to do them. If the conversation doesn't go well, then you're in the wrong org to make it work.

cmdshiftf4 7y ago
+1 to all of this. Keep in mind that organizations will virtually always want to promote from within. The easiest way to show that you're capable of moving from Senior Eng to Staff Eng, or Senior Eng to Management is by meaningfully showing that you both understand what is expected in those roles, and that you're actively trying to incorporate those expectations into your every day work. You should discuss the various roles / directions available to you with your manager, learn the expectations involved in those roles and work together to find opportunities that will help you move into those roles. One thing, regardless of the direction you go in, that you can start working on right away is communication skills.

alexandercrohde 7y ago

1. Most people who want to manage won't, period. That's just the math, ICs outnumber managers severalfold. 2. Many people will never become managers because they don't seem "managery." They don't dress right, they don't use the right buzzwords, they have a speech impediment, they speak too truthfully. There are all sorts of cultural factors too that people don't admit. For example, no manager would ever say this point 2 to you, because it's too honest and potentially upsetting. 3. A lot of people will only promote you to manager if they think you'll be able to make them look good, and that's the end of it.

meristem 7y ago
+1 on point 2, no matter how terrible this sounds. Unfortunately this means decoding what your manager, and your organization, understand a manager to look like/talk like/act like.
pm90 7y ago
The reason for 2. is mostly a fear that such a person might not be very effective at communicating, convincing and listening to others. There is certainly also an element of social charisma to it. I don’t think it is something that can’t be learned though; in fact I imagine most people that become managers perhaps take the time to do just that.... almost like a self fulfilling prophecy. Nobody is born a manager.

JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago

I'd imagine a team lead engineering role would be the transition between individual contributor and management roles.