Should you be a manager?

A computer engineering student asked me whether he should pursue a technical career or transition into management. Having done both, here's my perspective.

I spent about 10 years as a department and project manager. Eventually, I realized that managing people was no longer something I enjoyed, so I stepped away from all of my management roles. For the past 15 years, I've been an individual contributor while continuing to mentor engineers, but I'm no longer responsible for their performance.

Despite that, I recommend that everyone spend at least a few years in a management role. It gives you valuable experience that is very difficult to gain any other way. Volunteering for responsibilities beyond your formal role and building relationships beyond your immediate team will increase your chances of moving into management.

When you become a manager, you get to see behind the curtain. You discover that many unpopular decisions are driven by budget constraints, deadlines, conflicting stakeholder requests, or information that isn't visible to the rest of the team. You learn more about yourself and about other people (for example, that employees can also be biased or unfair), develop an appreciation for different perspectives, and become more effective in dealing with others.

A good manager doesn't just do things right, they also make sure the right things get done. They know how value is created and say no to work that doesn't have enough value. You will learn that saying no is much harder than saying yes because you have to deal with the pushback. By ensuring that the right work is carried out with high quality, you create a multiplier effect that improves the performance of everyone on your team. A great engineer can double their own productivity. A great manager can increase the effectiveness of a team of ten people by 50%, creating a far greater overall impact.

At the same time, don't neglect your technical skills. If you ever decide to step away from management, maintaining your technical expertise will allow you to return to an engineering role. If your technical skills become outdated, your career options become much more limited.

Of course, it's not easy to be both a good manager and a good engineer. Excelling at both requires more effort than most people are willing to invest, and it's only possible if you're genuinely interested in them.

A realistic take on the subject: Waltzing with Bears

Music: Modern Talking - Cheri Cheri Lady

The first rule of convincing others: Don't be a jerk

We are often raised on the romantic myth of the lone genius. We love the story of the visionary who sees a truth no one else can see, fights the ignorant masses, and eventually is proven right. The 19th-century Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis is the poster child for this myth. 

Semmelweis discovered in 1847 that doctors were literally carrying death on their hands. By mandating a hand-washing protocol at the Vienna General Hospital, he slashed maternal mortality rates from 18% to less than 2% almost overnight.

However, he was a diplomatic disaster. When his colleagues didn't immediately adopt his findings, he didn't refine his argument or seek allies. He called his peers murderers and irresponsible ignoramuses. Most people would rather believe the data is wrong than believe they are monsters. His life ended in a mental asylum, beaten by the guards.

The antiseptic revolution required the arrival of Joseph Lister, a man who was as tactful and methodical as Semmelweis was erratic and angry, to finally make the idea stick. The twenty-year gap between Semmelweis’s data and the medical world’s adoption of hand-washing represents thousands of preventable deaths.

If you believe you have discovered something vital, you have to be likeable enough to be heard. If your language attacks the listener’s intelligence or character, they will stop listening to your data. If you ignore the human element of your truth, you aren't being a martyr, you’re being an obstacle to your own cause.

Startup Checklist for Students

Thinking about turning your hobby or project into a business? Ask yourself:

1. Who wants it? What makes it better than the alternatives?
2. How will people hear about it? A great product is useless if no one knows it exists.
3. How will it make money?