What New Engineering Managers Need To Understand About Their Role

Follow legendary Andy Grove’s advice to understand what success means in your new role

A few months into their new position, engineering managers start agonizing how they hardly get time to do any technical work. They feel they would become redundant if they don’t start contributing in the technical areas.

I get it, I’ve been there.

I remember the constant assault on my self esteem when I was first promoted to be a manager. Most of the things that I had learned to get to that position were all of a sudden..umm…good-for-nothing. As if all my technical chops had implemented an IDisposable interface overnight. Sigh!

If you’re going through the same phase a) please know that you’re not alone, b) understand what has changed.

Earlier, as an individual contributor, it was all about you, you, and you. There were days when you wrote great code and then there were some when you didn’t. It was either 0 or 1. Team’s success depended on you, but you were still a lone warrior.

But nothing is permanent. The moment you become a manager, the focal point changes. It’s not about your individual contributions anymore. It’s all about your team and the work they are…