julian's response was so on point, i wrote a whole nother piece in response to him. the argument for why management really shouldn't be a promotion, how to sell it to your org, and why to try. charity.wtf/2020/09/06/if-…
i've seen a lot of people address this question from the perspective of the newly enmanagered person, who needs to learn a new set of skills; but never from the perspective of why this is better for the org as a whole, or dwelling on the emotional fallout of going back and forth.
i've also seen a lot of people chirp "management is not a promotion, it's a change of career" whilst merrily ensconced in organizations that clearly, unmistakably treat management as a promotion. which bugs me. 🙃
hey there's nothing wrong with a little hypocrisy. the difference between aspiration and reality is what it is.
what bugs me is that i'm not sure if they're aware of it? so i tried to write down the actions an org would take, if they were seriously trying to level the roles
you don't just get to say "management is not a promotion" but then pay your managers more, offer leadership training exclusively to managers, have managers responsible for technical decision-making, etc.
charity.wtf/2020/09/06/if-…
this would be a GREAT thing to anonymously ask engineering teams every year: "do you feel like you need to become a manager in order to have a seat at the table, a say in decisions that impact you, or the influence you would like to have?"
and to ask your managers -- "do you feel like going back to engineering would involve a serious loss of status, access to information, and influence on company decisions? would you be likely to return to engineering if you did not fear that loss of status?"
the other horrifying tweet that inspired this piece was this one:
what so many people seemingly fail to understand is this:
~ tech lead work is management work
~ being a tech lead is a management role
it's simply that you are ultimately responsible for the success of a technical initiative, not for people and their careers or team cohesion.
i've recently been wobbling on the verge of straight-up deciding that SRE is inherently 1) a senior role and 2) a management role as well, but let's throw down with that bomb another night
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