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3 posts tagged with "engineering-management"

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So you want to be an engineering manager

· 17 min read
TL;DR

This is a summary of hundreds of conversations I've had with prospective engineering managers about what life looks like as a manager- the purpose and responsibilities of the role, but more importantly- what you actually do every day.

Climbing that thing

I chat with a lot of younger engineers about their future, career goals, and what kind of work makes them happy. By far, the most frequent conversation I have is about engineering management- what it involves, how to get into it, and whether it's a good fit for them.

I've also worked with people who've been thrown into management without any real guidance or preparation. This can be a really hard situation, because you absolutely need to be able to ask for help, but it can be terrifying as a new manager to admit that you're struggling.

I thought I'd spend some time summarizing the conversations I often have with prospective managers of what I think life as an effective engineering manager looks like. I'll start with the high level purpose, and then we'll get into the details of what day-to-day activities look like.

Let a thousand flowers bloom

· 11 min read
Less than a thousand flowers

I've been reflecting recently on a really formative period in my career, when I had a chance to be part of a massive experiment in progressive engineering management.

About 3 and a half years before I left Vistaprint, I was asked to join the Engineering leadership team by our (relatively) new VP of Engineering, Erin DeCesare (who is now the CTO of EZCater). She was a particularly bold leader in terms of her progressive management ideas, and was rapidly reshaping the organization with a strong set of values around empowerment and servant leadership.

DevOps is a stew

· 7 min read
Irish Stew (10320713316)

When learning a new recipe, especially when dabbling in cuisine from different cultures, I find it really important to make sure one is really precise in their understanding the words used in the recipe. I've had a few unfortunate misunderstandings that resulted in... gastronomic disaster.

Similarly, I find that I can't responsibly use the word "DevOps" without testing that the person I'm talking to know which meaning I'm using. Here's some examples of what someone may think I mean when I say "DevOps":