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Ask HN: Can you get into engineering management without being a senior?

by mrroryflint on 7/16/23, 2:17 PM with 4 comments

Pretty much as the title says.

I started a little late in engineering, getting my firs job aged 29. I became a mid-level engineer a year later and have been there for two years.

I am most definitely soon on my way to a senior engineer position but I'm not convinced that is the role I would like to take.

My previous career was very 'people' focussed and included a lot of people and project management. As much as I enjoy the pure programming side, I would like to spend more time on the human and management side of things.

In my current and previous companies, the hierarchies were well defined: you'd get to senior engineering role and then move up to a management role and continue onwards. I imagine a number of those people never really wanted to manage but I suppose 'progression' beckons.

Does anybody have any experience of jumping this stage? I have proven management and people skills that are fairly rare in my current industry - or should I plough on through the senior engineering stage to understand the industry as a whole more?

UK based, if that is of importance.

Thanks!

  • by HarryHirsch on 7/16/23, 3:01 PM

    We hope not - there's actually a reason that in functional companies management is promoted from engineering. Anyone managing engineers or scientists needs a deep knowledge of the problem field - if they don't they will inevitable slide into cargo-culting, technological debt will build up, and any politically savvy engineer will keep their mouth shut. If they speak up they will be fired, and they are not paid to fix up management cluelessness and deficiencies in company culture.

    Awful engineers who are people people are not adequate management material. The experience from the 18th and 19th century Royal Navy (that's institutional psychology on steroids) is that sailors will put up with anything, except favouritism and incompetence. Inhumane treatment will not provoke a mutiny but lack of navigational skills or poor seamanship will.

    Sorry, buddy!