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It's a tradeoff. Some of my worst managers were former programmers; some of my best came in through some side door. Management ability--real management, as in
by metageek 15y ago
It's a tradeoff. Some of my worst managers were former programmers; some of my best came in through some side door. Management ability--real management, as in getting people to get along and get the job done, not as in making Gantt charts and chanting buzzwords--is essential, and it's really rare to find it combined with technical skills.
- diego 15y agoIt's not rare in the Silicon Valley. Most managers in successful companies here are what you'd consider rare. Managers without real management ability don't last long here.
- metageek 15y agoAnd are they also good engineers? That's the hard part; the kind of obsessive focus usually required to be a good geek tends to impair the social skills required to be a good manager. Not always, I admit, but usually. I did work in Silicon Valley, but not for very long; and it was in the late 90s, at Netscape, so my experience was probably atypical.
- diego 15y agoAll great engineering managers I know were also great engineers. It's possible to use your geek focus to improve your social skills, I've done it :)