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> If someone figured out how to be a good engineer, they can probably figure out how to be a good manager, too, if they wanted. The "if they wanted" part is ke

> If someone figured out how to be a good engineer, they can probably figure out how to be a good manager, too, if they wanted. The "if they wanted" part is key. It's hard to become extremely good at something unless you really enjoy doing it. I'd imagine that most people who are top engineers would rather be doing engineering than anything else. If you make them a manager, they're going to enjoy that less and not be as good at it -- but a lot of people get pressured into becoming managers nonetheless.

thesimon 6y ago
> I'd imagine that most people who are top engineers would rather be doing engineering than anything else. Really? I love software development, but I don't think just churning out random CRUD software based on some specs is very interesting. A lot nicer to solve problems of your customers, see how the product makes them happier and think about ways to improve their user experience. Somehow I assumed that's how others felt as well.
- jonas21 6y ago
  If the top engineers at your company are churning out random CRUD software from specs, you may want to reconsider where you're working. Good engineering is about understanding the problems of your customers, designing software that solves these problems, and improving their user experience.
  - nullsense 6y ago
    Majority of jobs are going to be like that though.
skohan 6y ago
The cool part about being a technical manager is that you can expand the scale of what you are capable of. So for instance if you ever had an idea like "if only I had infinite time and infinite energy I would do X", you can build a team which has the tools to provide that. If your goal is to have an impact, you have to be lucky to do this as an engineer. There has to be a structure around you which converts your work into value. As a manager it's much more reliable that you can be the person to create that structure.

thesimon 6y ago

> I'd imagine that most people who are top engineers would rather be doing engineering than anything else. Really? I love software development, but I don't think just churning out random CRUD software based on some specs is very interesting. A lot nicer to solve problems of your customers, see how the product makes them happier and think about ways to improve their user experience. Somehow I assumed that's how others felt as well.

jonas21 6y ago
If the top engineers at your company are churning out random CRUD software from specs, you may want to reconsider where you're working. Good engineering is about understanding the problems of your customers, designing software that solves these problems, and improving their user experience.
- nullsense 6y ago
  Majority of jobs are going to be like that though.

skohan 6y ago

The cool part about being a technical manager is that you can expand the scale of what you are capable of. So for instance if you ever had an idea like "if only I had infinite time and infinite energy I would do X", you can build a team which has the tools to provide that. If your goal is to have an impact, you have to be lucky to do this as an engineer. There has to be a structure around you which converts your work into value. As a manager it's much more reliable that you can be the person to create that structure.