I enjoy programming, but doing so in a professional environment is a shit show. Daily standups, open plan offices, code reviews, stack ranking... it's an entirely different experience.
Has anyone found that they have enjoyed programming, but moved into management and enjoyed it more?
A typical breakdown would be:
- %30 about coaching your team members, hiring, 1-1, career path
- %50 status update to upper management, talking about issues and stressful stuff
- %20 hands-on
Being an Individual Contributor is actually more enjoyable in a long run when you look at the salary gap... not worth it.
Last but not least, interviewing for a manager position is really painful when you're coming from the outside. People often have a lot of frustration due to their previous managers who screwed things up. But they had to stay quite for a while. So when it comes to judging their future direct report, there's no filter. It won't cost me my job if I tell people you're not the right candidate/manager for our team during an interview briefing. So finding a manager job is super tough. You'll have to stick with the same employer for a while or you'll have to go back down as an IC, land a job, then work your way back up to a manager role. How painful is that?
I feel like I'm facing a new set of challenges, very different ones than I did as a programmer. I'm dealing more with keeping clients happy, and I'm great at keeping honest communication going between programmers and non-technical stakeholders because I'm used to living in both worlds. And since I spent so long as a programmer, I love he opportunities I get to challenge my team and help them grow their careers - opportunities I often didn't get when my career was starting out.
Not writing code all day at work has made programming fun for me again, too. I used to dread writing code in the morning and I was seriously considering changing careers. Now, I open up VS Code after my kid goes to bed and I actually enjoy it, even if what I'm working on never gets seen by anybody but me.
Being hands-on keeps me sane.
Did a 1-year part-time Management course in one of the top BSchools, at the end of my tenure as a PM - wasn't of great benefit, as I think that the idea of a MBA is becoming largely irrelevant. I think a good selection of courses in MooC helps; in fact, for me, I was so much fascinated by courses in Coursera that led me to do the part-time Exec Mgmt course. But I must say that the experience of the Professors and getting back to school after almost a decade was enjoyable. Just listening to the lectures of the Profs was much needed.
During the whole journey, I cultivated the habit of reading and writing(a lot!) and I can personally see my thought process mature. But I know it's just tip of the iceberg.
I think the most important trait is not to stop learning whatever you do. I know it sounds cliched, but it is what it is.
Am always on the lookout for smart people with whom I can work with and learn.
I still tinker at home but now my main outlet technically is teaching children to program through @codeclub.
If I was to say one thing, it's to chose the organisation you do such a move with very carefully. Just because a company is a great employer in one role does not make it a good one in another.