You have to have credibility with engineers to manage them or they will not respect you. At least at leading companies with a Silicon Valley type culture. It's

You have to have credibility with engineers to manage them or they will not respect you. At least at leading companies with a Silicon Valley type culture. It's about more than knowing how to program, but rather the ins and outs of development, architecture, technology. Plenty of more typical Fortune 500 type companies and small, non VC funded companies let managers from non engineering backgrounds manage engineers.