New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: How to grow as an engineering leader with mid-level hands-on experience?
Ask HN: How to grow as an engineering leader with mid-level hands-on experience?
4 by quantamiser | 0 comments on Hacker News.
I worked in a startup from its inception until acquisition 7 years later. I started young as an engineer and did everything required to make the company successful - code, take support calls, conceptualize the product, go for sales pitches and meet with customers. I understood the levers of the company - employees, product, clients and was acknowledged as a good leader. When our team was growing I jumped to fill the gap of an engineering manager even though I didn't get the chance to grow via the typical engineering ladder of SDE 1-2-3 > TL > PE/EM. We had 20 engineers at our max size and my performance (getting things done, fostering team culture) was quite good. The CEO and the tech architect helped to take decisions on tech architecture whenever my skills were not sufficient. Together we built a great team and a profitable product. I have an amazing experience building a company, but I am struggling to figure out what my next role is. Larger companies (50-200 sized company) don't think I am good enough for EM/Director of Engineering role as I haven't had extensive hands-on architectural experience. Is it normal for managers to have more breadth experience than depth? I understand I cant ramp up overnight. Assuming that I don't want to startup in the next few years, how do I grow from here?
4 by quantamiser | 0 comments on Hacker News.
I worked in a startup from its inception until acquisition 7 years later. I started young as an engineer and did everything required to make the company successful - code, take support calls, conceptualize the product, go for sales pitches and meet with customers. I understood the levers of the company - employees, product, clients and was acknowledged as a good leader. When our team was growing I jumped to fill the gap of an engineering manager even though I didn't get the chance to grow via the typical engineering ladder of SDE 1-2-3 > TL > PE/EM. We had 20 engineers at our max size and my performance (getting things done, fostering team culture) was quite good. The CEO and the tech architect helped to take decisions on tech architecture whenever my skills were not sufficient. Together we built a great team and a profitable product. I have an amazing experience building a company, but I am struggling to figure out what my next role is. Larger companies (50-200 sized company) don't think I am good enough for EM/Director of Engineering role as I haven't had extensive hands-on architectural experience. Is it normal for managers to have more breadth experience than depth? I understand I cant ramp up overnight. Assuming that I don't want to startup in the next few years, how do I grow from here?
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