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"When I was an engineer I focused on work that improved my career, but then I became a manager and realized that my engineers actually should work to improve my

"When I was an engineer I focused on work that improved my career, but then I became a manager and realized that my engineers actually should work to improve my career!" Funny how that works.

ryanlpeterman 4y ago
I agree it's easy to see it that way as an IC (I thought the same!). I think the more senior you become the more you will view impact from the lens of your team/org, even as an IC
- Jensson 4y ago
  There is a strong bias to focus on things that helps yourself, that is only natural. So IC's will focus too much on things that improve their career, managers will focus too much on things that improve their career, directors will focus too much on things that improve their career etc.
- izacus 4y ago
  Although, the more senior you become the more you also understand about using the best tool for the job. And burning away engineers time to do management tasks is not that.
- allenu 4y ago
  I'd say the higher you move up in management, the more and more your own goals should represent the business's goals. A lot of ICs don't really care about the business, however, and I think this is where promotions are used as a tool to get them to care. If you act in the interests of the business, the leadership of a company will (usually, but not always) reward you for your service to the business. Whether or not this is something you "should" do is up to you, in my opinion. As an IC, you can't make me care about a business. I'm there to get paid and gain career experience, the latter of which sometimes improves the business and sometimes not.
  - eggsmediumrare 4y ago
    This is why every time I take a management, I regret it. I don't care about any business and I'm beginning to suspect I'm incapable of caring about any aspect of the job other than the wellbeing of the people on my team.
stingraycharles 4y ago
Depends on what you’re looking for in an engineer. I consider the author’s learnings to be relatively obvious, of course and engineer that “gets to know their colleagues” is doing great. Fact of the matter is that there are a whole lot of people that aren’t necessarily into that, but are great individual contributors, and should just be left to their devices as long as they’re a positive contribution, not just to your codebase, but towards your organisation as a whole.
- Jensson 4y ago
  Making the team stronger often doesn't make your career better though. This guy says he didn't and he got promoted to manager anyway, and now suddenly he wants the people under him to make his team stronger rather than focus on their career like he did. That smells like a corporate climber who just started to eye his next promotion rather than a new insight. Edit: Notice I'm not saying this is bad, this is just natural bias towards what benefits yourself. It is just so interesting to see how people who experience that bias shift now sees it as some kind of "insight" rather than just their own bias.
- I_AM_A_SMURF 4y ago
  I just want to say that the usual interpretation of "individual contributors" is not that they work alone. Almost by definition a Senior and especially a Staff+ engineer gets to deal with a lot of other engineers, hardly working by him/herself. The more you go up the IC ladder the more your job becomes influencing the technical direction of your team/org. It's a very social job.

"When I was an engineer I focused on work that improved my career, but then I became a manager and realized that my engineers actually should work to improve my career!" Funny how that works.

ryanlpeterman 4y ago

I agree it's easy to see it that way as an IC (I thought the same!). I think the more senior you become the more you will view impact from the lens of your team/org, even as an IC

Jensson 4y ago
There is a strong bias to focus on things that helps yourself, that is only natural. So IC's will focus too much on things that improve their career, managers will focus too much on things that improve their career, directors will focus too much on things that improve their career etc.
izacus 4y ago
Although, the more senior you become the more you also understand about using the best tool for the job. And burning away engineers time to do management tasks is not that.
allenu 4y ago
I'd say the higher you move up in management, the more and more your own goals should represent the business's goals. A lot of ICs don't really care about the business, however, and I think this is where promotions are used as a tool to get them to care. If you act in the interests of the business, the leadership of a company will (usually, but not always) reward you for your service to the business. Whether or not this is something you "should" do is up to you, in my opinion. As an IC, you can't make me care about a business. I'm there to get paid and gain career experience, the latter of which sometimes improves the business and sometimes not.
- eggsmediumrare 4y ago
  This is why every time I take a management, I regret it. I don't care about any business and I'm beginning to suspect I'm incapable of caring about any aspect of the job other than the wellbeing of the people on my team.

stingraycharles 4y ago

Depends on what you’re looking for in an engineer. I consider the author’s learnings to be relatively obvious, of course and engineer that “gets to know their colleagues” is doing great. Fact of the matter is that there are a whole lot of people that aren’t necessarily into that, but are great individual contributors, and should just be left to their devices as long as they’re a positive contribution, not just to your codebase, but towards your organisation as a whole.

Jensson 4y ago
Making the team stronger often doesn't make your career better though. This guy says he didn't and he got promoted to manager anyway, and now suddenly he wants the people under him to make his team stronger rather than focus on their career like he did. That smells like a corporate climber who just started to eye his next promotion rather than a new insight. Edit: Notice I'm not saying this is bad, this is just natural bias towards what benefits yourself. It is just so interesting to see how people who experience that bias shift now sees it as some kind of "insight" rather than just their own bias.
I_AM_A_SMURF 4y ago
I just want to say that the usual interpretation of "individual contributors" is not that they work alone. Almost by definition a Senior and especially a Staff+ engineer gets to deal with a lot of other engineers, hardly working by him/herself. The more you go up the IC ladder the more your job becomes influencing the technical direction of your team/org. It's a very social job.