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> Some were just abusive managers > They were basically office politics machines, optimized to promote themselves at the expense of everyone else > Obviously

> Some were just abusive managers > They were basically office politics machines, optimized to promote themselves at the expense of everyone else > Obviously this isn’t unique Most middle management is like that. You must be extremely lucky to work people who are not like these. During my 20 years I had maybe 3 people out of the 100 I have worked with who were decent and looked out for the people who they managed.

Yoric 4y ago
Still anecdotal but most of the managers I've worked with were very much decent people. Not all of them extremely efficient, but definitely decent.
- permalac 4y ago
  Same for me. I worked with managers who mostly tried to do a decent job, some failed some succeeded, some were incapable others were good even when working at 50% of their capacity. I've only had to deal with one bullshit machine and he quickly moved to another location, my guess is he is moving every time his bullshit has grown to difficult to keep up.
- brandall10 4y ago
  Curious, but what kind of companies were these? I have a similar experience but haven’t worked for any big tech or name brand companies. The vast majority were in the health tech space with a smattering doing things that would be considered ethically sound (ie. Solar energy marketplace). I have had a couple nightmare supervisors who were obvious sociopaths, and have several who were incompetent, but for the most part only worked for folks with high EQ.
  - Yoric 4y ago
    (I'm not going to count my time in academia) 1. One nightmare CEO in an early stage tech startup. 2. A dozen managers at Mozilla, which ranked from "should have remained a dev" to "great managers". One of them was politically-minded, everybody else was truly attempting to make the team and the project work. 3. A few managers in a more recent tech startup, all of them good (albeit over-worked).
dennis_jeeves1 4y ago
>During my 20 years I had maybe 3 people out of the 100 Pretty much seems to reflect the general populace. The figure seems to be actually better than the general populace.
hungryforcodes 4y ago
You must have bad luck. Many middle managers are previous ICs who are still trying to pay the bills -- they're not automatically bad people. Consider also that bad companies hire bad people -- so maybe you could consider that as well. My experiences with management have been pretty positive. But I am biased: if my situation sucks -- I leave. Perhaps you stayed longer than you should have...

Yoric 4y ago

Still anecdotal but most of the managers I've worked with were very much decent people. Not all of them extremely efficient, but definitely decent.

permalac 4y ago
Same for me. I worked with managers who mostly tried to do a decent job, some failed some succeeded, some were incapable others were good even when working at 50% of their capacity. I've only had to deal with one bullshit machine and he quickly moved to another location, my guess is he is moving every time his bullshit has grown to difficult to keep up.
brandall10 4y ago
Curious, but what kind of companies were these? I have a similar experience but haven’t worked for any big tech or name brand companies. The vast majority were in the health tech space with a smattering doing things that would be considered ethically sound (ie. Solar energy marketplace). I have had a couple nightmare supervisors who were obvious sociopaths, and have several who were incompetent, but for the most part only worked for folks with high EQ.
- Yoric 4y ago
  (I'm not going to count my time in academia) 1. One nightmare CEO in an early stage tech startup. 2. A dozen managers at Mozilla, which ranked from "should have remained a dev" to "great managers". One of them was politically-minded, everybody else was truly attempting to make the team and the project work. 3. A few managers in a more recent tech startup, all of them good (albeit over-worked).

dennis_jeeves1 4y ago

>During my 20 years I had maybe 3 people out of the 100 Pretty much seems to reflect the general populace. The figure seems to be actually better than the general populace.

hungryforcodes 4y ago

You must have bad luck. Many middle managers are previous ICs who are still trying to pay the bills -- they're not automatically bad people. Consider also that bad companies hire bad people -- so maybe you could consider that as well. My experiences with management have been pretty positive. But I am biased: if my situation sucks -- I leave. Perhaps you stayed longer than you should have...