You are an engineering manager whether you realize it or not
Over the past few months I’ve mentioned to friends that I want to learn engineering leadership skills. Each time the reaction is: “you want to get into management??” That’s not how I see it.
As engineers we hold the lone wolf in high regard, the hoodie-wearing coder hacking away in the corner at a genius project. But large projects that deliver a ton of value are made by teams of engineers, not lone wolves.
You are already an engineering manager. Right now, you’re managing one person: yourself. If you don’t develop engineering leadership skills, the most impact you can have is the number of hours in your day. But by learning and exhibiting the qualities of a good engineering leader, you will be able to achieve things greater than you could have ever accomplished alone.