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author here - glad to see this post on HN, and glad you liked it! re: your last question - I interviewed for both SWE and EM positions, depending on what was a

author here - glad to see this post on HN, and glad you liked it! re: your last question - I interviewed for both SWE and EM positions, depending on what was available at any given company. At companies that had both roles open, I talked to folks to understand what they expected out of EMs vs engineers, as it varied a lot - and then I picked whatever was more appealing to me. In aggregate I went for 70% SWE / 30% EM roles (roughly)

veqq 4y ago
> what they expected out of EMs vs engineers, as it varied a lot I'm curious about the rough models which exist.
- ketzo 4y ago
  One of the most basic is “do your managers write code?” My first company out of college actually banned it as a practice - EMs were not allowed to be active contributors. I know at some companies, it’s actually a requirement, or at least heavily encouraged, for a manager to spend at least 20% time writing code. And then some places are a mixed bag. I can see both arguments! Just good to know that a company has a coherent philosophy on the issue.
- theptip 4y ago
  Some models I've seen (I'm sure there are some other ones): Pure people manager - HR admin (compensation evaluation etc), professional development, project management, team resourcing, etc. Tend to see this less in very small companies. TLM (Tech Lead / Manager) - Does all of the above, plus also acts as a tech lead for the project - technical design, mentoring, and possibly some coding. Tend to see this less in very big companies. TLM are typically first-line managers, I've not seen a TLM that manages managers (i.e. Director level). Rarely, hybrid engineer/manager - Does all the above, plus expected to contribute significantly to coding. Honestly it's a red flag for me to see a team hiring for this archetype, in my opinion it's a pragmatic stopgap you might find yourself with as a small company, until you can hire an engineer or manager to split the role; it's not something you should explicitly hire for. Sometimes, product lead as "mini-CEO" - manages the team/org and owns product direction. Typically will have a tech lead on the team to own that side of things. This can grow into a Director position, managing the team managers and still owning the product function. Some archetyes for dedicated Staff engineers (typically the equivalent IC-track level to a team manager): https://staffeng.com/guides/staff-archetypes https://staffeng.com/guides/staff-archetypes
  - mhlakhani 4y ago
    thanks for hitting the nail on the head - this is what I saw. I was comfortable with TLM/pure people manager, but not the hybrid (been there, done that - it was rough).

veqq 4y ago

> what they expected out of EMs vs engineers, as it varied a lot I'm curious about the rough models which exist.

ketzo 4y ago
One of the most basic is “do your managers write code?” My first company out of college actually banned it as a practice - EMs were not allowed to be active contributors. I know at some companies, it’s actually a requirement, or at least heavily encouraged, for a manager to spend at least 20% time writing code. And then some places are a mixed bag. I can see both arguments! Just good to know that a company has a coherent philosophy on the issue.
theptip 4y ago
Some models I've seen (I'm sure there are some other ones): Pure people manager - HR admin (compensation evaluation etc), professional development, project management, team resourcing, etc. Tend to see this less in very small companies. TLM (Tech Lead / Manager) - Does all of the above, plus also acts as a tech lead for the project - technical design, mentoring, and possibly some coding. Tend to see this less in very big companies. TLM are typically first-line managers, I've not seen a TLM that manages managers (i.e. Director level). Rarely, hybrid engineer/manager - Does all the above, plus expected to contribute significantly to coding. Honestly it's a red flag for me to see a team hiring for this archetype, in my opinion it's a pragmatic stopgap you might find yourself with as a small company, until you can hire an engineer or manager to split the role; it's not something you should explicitly hire for. Sometimes, product lead as "mini-CEO" - manages the team/org and owns product direction. Typically will have a tech lead on the team to own that side of things. This can grow into a Director position, managing the team managers and still owning the product function. Some archetyes for dedicated Staff engineers (typically the equivalent IC-track level to a team manager): https://staffeng.com/guides/staff-archetypes https://staffeng.com/guides/staff-archetypes
- mhlakhani 4y ago
  thanks for hitting the nail on the head - this is what I saw. I was comfortable with TLM/pure people manager, but not the hybrid (been there, done that - it was rough).