3 ms·

I couldn't shake my knee-jerk response to this title: "Get a technical boss"

by tks2103 14y ago

Articulate 14y ago
Right? It is so frustrating that the easiest way to make more money in a company is by getting into the management track- so then you have non-tech experts overseeing projects that require sophisticated knowledge- startups have the benefit of letting experts do both the tech work and the management. But that starts to fall off as companies grow and start considering things like branding, financing, HR etc etc etc.
arethuza 14y ago
Well, one problem is that if you promote someone who is good technically to be a manager they can quickly lose track of what is sensible from a current technical perspective - knowledge of specifics of technologies can have a very short half life (say a year or so).
- eru 14y ago
  There's technical knowledge with longer shelve-life, too. (Think compiler construction vs the latest craze.)
- phowat 14y ago
  As a programmer doing more and more managerial work (but thankfully not 100% of the time yet), I try to keep my knowledge up-to-date by working on side projects. May not be the perfect solution but it sure helps.
btilly 14y ago
The talents needed to be good technically are uncorrelated with the talents needed to be an effective manager. I've experienced both, and I'll take a good nontechnical manager over a bad technical manager any day. (Note, my definition of "good" and "bad" here has to do with my experience of working with the person, and not their ability to climb the political hierarchy.)
larrik 14y ago
What if you want someone who is actually a good boss, though? Most tech people I know make awful bosses, because being a good manager is usually about being the lightning rod for all the BS, so that the tech people can actually be productive. Likewise, a non-technical manage who learns enough to technology to be dangerous is even WORSE.
mcherm 14y ago
The technical boss can be even worse. There are a hundred technical decisions that need to be made. A non-technical boss who trusts his best experts can farm that out to the entire team. A technical boss will often try to use their own judgement... but there is too much for one person to micromanage, so they end up failing.

I couldn't shake my knee-jerk response to this title: "Get a technical boss"

by tks2103 14y ago

I couldn't shake my knee-jerk response to this title: "Get a technical boss"

Right? It is so frustrating that the easiest way to make more money in a company is by getting into the management track- so then you have non-tech experts overseeing projects that require sophisticated knowledge- startups have the benefit of letting experts do both the tech work and the management. But that starts to fall off as companies grow and start considering things like branding, financing, HR etc etc etc.

arethuza 14y ago

Well, one problem is that if you promote someone who is good technically to be a manager they can quickly lose track of what is sensible from a current technical perspective - knowledge of specifics of technologies can have a very short half life (say a year or so).

eru 14y ago
There's technical knowledge with longer shelve-life, too. (Think compiler construction vs the latest craze.)
phowat 14y ago
As a programmer doing more and more managerial work (but thankfully not 100% of the time yet), I try to keep my knowledge up-to-date by working on side projects. May not be the perfect solution but it sure helps.

btilly 14y ago

The talents needed to be good technically are uncorrelated with the talents needed to be an effective manager. I've experienced both, and I'll take a good nontechnical manager over a bad technical manager any day. (Note, my definition of "good" and "bad" here has to do with my experience of working with the person, and not their ability to climb the political hierarchy.)

larrik 14y ago

What if you want someone who is actually a good boss, though? Most tech people I know make awful bosses, because being a good manager is usually about being the lightning rod for all the BS, so that the tech people can actually be productive. Likewise, a non-technical manage who learns enough to technology to be dangerous is even WORSE.

mcherm 14y ago

The technical boss can be even worse. There are a hundred technical decisions that need to be made. A non-technical boss who trusts his best experts can farm that out to the entire team. A technical boss will often try to use their own judgement... but there is too much for one person to micromanage, so they end up failing.