What makes the transition from Individual Contributor to Engineering Manager easier?

Jan 20, 2022 by manish

😣 Accepting the fact that you are transitioning from an excellent engineer to mediocre manager

0️⃣ Accepting that you are starting from zero and you need to learn most of the skills on the job

📚 Accepting that you can’t learn management by reading leadership books, you learn it by trying and failing at things

🦸‍♀️ Learning to let go off “let me just dive in and fix it myself because I can do that a lot faster”

🤷 Understanding that you are no longer the smartest technical person in the room

🧏 Learning how to listen more and talk less

🤐 Learning how to observe quiet people and including them in the discussion 

❓ Learning how to guide conversation with questions rather than directive comments 

🗣 Sharing your opinions at the end after everybody on your team had a chance to share their thoughts

👭 Taking an effort to know your team members as a person

👔 Understanding that developing soft skills is more important than continuing to develop technical depth