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I got the opportunity to be a manager awhile ago. I had to take people I used to work closely together with on a very agile research environment and fit them in

I got the opportunity to be a manager awhile ago. I had to take people I used to work closely together with on a very agile research environment and fit them into the "totally agile but really waterfall" scrumfall development process used elsewhere in the company. I was forced to assign highly specialised people to totally unrelated tasks to their expertise because PMs wanted features that we neither had enough people nor the right people to do, all the while people were either quitting or wanting to quit left and right. I had all the responsibility and none of the power. Fuck that.

mythhouse 4y ago
Did you come back to being an IC?
- sirwhinesalot 4y ago
  I quit as a manager and went back to working as a developer (after burning-out for awhile). I can deal with shitty processes as long as I'm not asked to impose them on other people. The sad part is that nobody in my immediate surroundings (including higher managers) are happy with those processes, they're all great people trying to do the best of a bad situation. But "it's just how things are". Big companies suck.
  - mythhouse 4y ago
    This reflects my own experience too and I did come back to being IC. That was about a decade ago. All my friends and peers are now at director level positions and I still have to do leetcode puzzles to 'stay sharp' incase i have to change jobs. I also make about 50% less pay than them. i tell myself 'atleast i enjoy going to work everyday' when i feel like a failure.
    - sirwhinesalot 4y ago
      I'd rather be slightly poorer than miserable and needing therapy. It's what it is, we're not all cut out for corporate ladder climbing. My hope is that I'll find a startup I truly believe in someday, join them early and skip a bunch of steps. It's not management that I can't stand, it's middle management.
musingsole 4y ago
> because PMs wanted features that we neither had enough people nor the right people to do IMO, PMs are too high on the decision making totem pole. Too often they are making demands of engineering when they should be asking.
Zekio 4y ago
Sounds like my last job

mythhouse 4y ago

Did you come back to being an IC?

sirwhinesalot 4y ago
I quit as a manager and went back to working as a developer (after burning-out for awhile). I can deal with shitty processes as long as I'm not asked to impose them on other people. The sad part is that nobody in my immediate surroundings (including higher managers) are happy with those processes, they're all great people trying to do the best of a bad situation. But "it's just how things are". Big companies suck.
- mythhouse 4y ago
  This reflects my own experience too and I did come back to being IC. That was about a decade ago. All my friends and peers are now at director level positions and I still have to do leetcode puzzles to 'stay sharp' incase i have to change jobs. I also make about 50% less pay than them. i tell myself 'atleast i enjoy going to work everyday' when i feel like a failure.
  - sirwhinesalot 4y ago
    I'd rather be slightly poorer than miserable and needing therapy. It's what it is, we're not all cut out for corporate ladder climbing. My hope is that I'll find a startup I truly believe in someday, join them early and skip a bunch of steps. It's not management that I can't stand, it's middle management.

musingsole 4y ago

> because PMs wanted features that we neither had enough people nor the right people to do IMO, PMs are too high on the decision making totem pole. Too often they are making demands of engineering when they should be asking.

Zekio 4y ago

Sounds like my last job