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Comment by yosito | Hacker News Reader

I'm a senior engineer with over a decade of experience. Most engineering jobs I've left, it was because the manager viewed themselves as an authority with power to force me to do things their way rather than as an enabler who would trust my expertise and help remove blockers to getting things done. In those roles, I'd spend more time chasing the managers' scattered thoughts through endless link trails deep in the bowels of Slack and Jira than actually doing engineering work. When I left, and the managers asked me for feedback, I always told them that everything had been great and I had just accepted a new opportunity. Leaving is not the time to burn bridges.

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In my ~9 years of experience, most engineering jobs I've stayed have been because the manager was an enabler who trusted my experience and would help remove blockers to getting things done.

I know we like to shit on engineering managers a lot here at HN but having worked with great managers, terrible managers and playing the role for a short stint myself (a humbling experience, where I was not happy with my own performance), I realise the critical role a good manager can play to bring out the best in the team, and conversely how a bad one can bring out the worst.

In my ~13 years of experience, I've never worked under a manager who enabled or trusted me. I've always left a job because of new management, a policy instituted by a manager, or because the manager made me work on holidays, or being available to clients on my vacation. Generally, it's the 'shit on the employee in the name of the client' that pisses me off.

I'm of the opinion now that managers are a waste of resources and amount to baby-sitters who attend meetings, approve time off, and try to get me to work more.

I haven't met a manager yet who made a positive contribution to a project. There's a reason people shit on them!

There are such managers (enablers who trust you). The irony is that usually you get them on doomed ships that refuse to change their ways anyway.

In the current employees' market, I feel that a manager's primary responsibility is preventing their engineers from quitting.

When I was promoted to manager the COO who was above me gave me the following advice: "For an employee, the direct manager is the company. People will judge the company, and decide to stay or leave depending on how you perform".

It's funny how looking back this is exactly why I decided to change companies, before and after. I absolutely loath interviewing, but it only takes an unsupportive manager to tip me. On the other hand, my direct superior now, a CTO, is completely different from every other manager I had, so I have zero desire to leave, the risk is just too much.

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