So You Want To Become an Engineering Manager
Know what it actually takes before you make the decision!
Alright so you’ve been a senior engineer for a while and you’re considering a move into Engineering Management. That’s fantastic!
But do you know what minimum skills are needed to succeed as an Engineering Manager? Do you know where to start and how to get there?
Let me break down what it actually takes, before you put this milestone on your career roadmap.
Spoiler alert: It’s a combination of skills and opportunity.
But first,
Share your intent
When I told my manager I wanted to become an EM some day, like a great boss he said “Of course!”. After that it was a couple of years of focused growth and waiting for the right opportunity.
You’re less likely to become an EM if no one knows about your career plan. So, let someone know! Talk to your manager.
Don’t demand a promotion but just share your intent. They will be best able to guide you through the requirements and the resources available in your organization. They will have you in mind when the opportunity arises.
If you have a manager worth their salt, they will also coach you to get there or point to someone who can.
Focus on the Skills
Whether you find a decent coach or not (and chances are you won’t), you should focus most of your time on building the skills required. This effort will serve you well regardless of what happens with your promo.
As an EM, you’ll manage three areas - YOU (yourself), THEM (others) and IT (the work). You’ll need skills in all three of them to succeed.
1. Self Awareness
If you’re not aware of your emotions, your values, your motivations, your communication style, your likes/dislikes, your tone, your voice, your behavior and feelings in different situations and everything else about your own self, you’re going to struggle as an EM.
You can’t fix what you are not aware of.
Without this skill, you won’t know what triggers you. You will be driving with your improvement areas in the blind spot. You won’t realize what really worked in a situation. Most importantly, you won’t be able to help yourself!
How I Did It
Practicing self-reflection and mindfulness. Before bed, I used to think about the conversations that didn’t go well and situations where my emotions were stronger. I put those feelings into words and tried to arrive at a meaningful conclusion about my own self.
Paying attention to how your actions affect others and seek to understand their perspectives.
Taking assessments about your personality that help you discover your strengths, values, saboteurs, etc.
Meditation. Recommended but not required.
2. People Skills
As an EM, you’ll be dealing with a lot of people on a daily basis, whether it’s leading your team of engineers or talking to stakeholders or managing up. People skills involve understanding team dynamics, resolving conflicts, providing feedback and communicating effectively.
People skills are often called as “soft skills”. I don’t think there’s anything soft about them. They’re hard to master!
How I Did It
Offered to help newer team members and took charge of a small project which my manager was happy to offload. This project also involved leading a couple of people. I practiced providing feedback.
Speaking up in meetings. This helped me to practice communication and making my voice heard.
Going to meetings beyond the team ceremonies. I learned a lot about communicating my team’s work by going into non-team meetings. I started by going to meetings my manager went.
Reaching out to people. I built the courage to ping people and ask them questions about things that came to my mind about the business or a specific product or a project.
3. Project Management
This one is about how to get the actual work done. Managing timelines, resources, and deliverables will become a significant part of your role. You should learn how to break up projects into smaller chunks, plan them and distribute amongst the team.
You’ll often need to juggle complex projects with competing priorities. Knowing some popular frameworks and processes will help.
On most levels, this is the easiest skill to master because there’s a lot of literature around it. It is also easy to measure.
How I Did It
Attended a few agile trainings. I familiarized myself with all the main ceremonies and formed my own opinion about them.
Thinking about the future. Most of the team was focusing on the now and the near-term future. I started thinking about what next after that and sharing occasionally with the team.
Focusing on the why. Instead of just doing the work that came in my way I started asking why this work is important. Sometimes it led me to answers I didn’t know and helped me discover the real priority. It built a muscle to think strategically along with being tactical.
Look for the Opportunity
You can be proficient in all the skills yet not become an EM if there’s no team to manage. Landing an EM role isn’t just about being ready, it’s also about the needs of the company. If there’s no opportunity to manage people right now within your team, check if the team is expected to grow. If not, look elsewhere!
In the meantime, get enough experience under your belt as an IC. EMs manage highly technical teams and projects, so going through the hands-on technical journey of a software engineer will give you an edge.
Lastly, see if you can play an “acting manager” role before the actual promotion. This will help you to test the waters, before taking the plunge!
The One Thing
If there’s only one thing you can remember from this article, it is that
You will only be able to manage others if you know how to manage yourself. Learn to manage yourself through self-awareness and the process of self-discovery.
I wouldn’t have been able to identify gaps in my skills if I hadn’t invested in becoming self-aware. I wouldn’t have been able to empathize with others if I hadn’t learned to differentiate my feelings. And I wouldn’t have become a decent manager without being able to shut down my inner voice while listening!
Have you seen managers succeed without this skill? Let me know in the comments.
More Resources
Some online assessments to help with self-awareness
Insightful and practical advice on transitioning to Engineering Management. Loved the emphasis on self-awareness and your personal journey—truly valuable!
People skills are underrated and project management skills are overrated.
Another thing that you mentioned is opportunity and this should be coupled with patience, we all wanted to become engineering managers right away but truth be told these positions don’t show up every week. Not to mention that we need to be humble enough to understand we are not ready yet.
Great post!