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Ask HN: Managerial roles and how to enter them?

5 points by the_only_law ↗ HN
A lot of what gets mentioned when people ask "I don't want to be a developer anymore, what are my options" are managerial and other business type roles. The biggest that comes to mind is project manager, but I'm curous if there are other roles like that that pay better than an IC role at an average corporation and what you need (education, skills, something else?) to break into them. I'm about convinced I wont be able to drive my career as an IC in a direction I want in any useful amount of time and have begun wondering if I should judt suck it up and try to move into a decent paying business roles after X more years of my current job. I probably have a good amount of time before I make any transition like that, however. I dont have any formal education though, so I'm worried about my limits here.

7 comments

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leff_f
The growth into managerial roles happens kind of naturally, take more responsibility - become a team lead, take even more responsibility become some sort of manager. It has less to do with knowledge or diplomas more with the desire to take responsibility to be a leader and take responsibility for the others. The only limit here is the amount of responsibility you can handle.
logicslave
The limit is that there are exponentially fewer managers as you move up the chain
leff_f
While this is true, everything is not cast in stone, people are changing positions and opportunities are rising. The org structure in most places is dynamic, additionally leaders usually happy to delegate their responsibilities.
muzani
More often, there's nobody worthy for the role, which is why so many companies choose to hire a manager from outside the company rather than promote internally. If the senior managers were truly good, the company would also be growing rapidly, which opens many more manager positions.
_ah
This may be true, but these vacant roles are generally limited to candidates who have already performed at that level elsewhere.

It's very difficult to gain a promotion while also moving to an equivalent-or-better company. The easiest move is to go up in role while trading down in company, or up in company but down in role. True career advancement happens through internal promotion, or happens if you "trade up" to an equivalent role at a better company.

muzani
I would recommend practicing leadership skills. The safest way to do this is gaming - play a team based game or sport and lead the team under pressure. MMOs are great, MOBAs are great, fast paced shooters too. If you have a family, lead your children, rather than the typical method of yelling at them or bribing them.

At your workplace however, you should be leading upwards. Instead of waiting for your boss to tell you what to do, find out what the company wants and needs and find a way to get there. When there's a problem, offer a suggestion. Be the first to tackle a problem, instead of waiting for someone else to.

Like many jobs, it's not certain when a manager post opens. A team might make do with less managers than they need, or hire one manager more than they need at times. Some people get locked into a "team lead" role rather than a management one. If you prove yourself ready for a higher post, they might just create one for you and put you in it.

one2know
That may be the classical view of management but is does not reflect the business environment today. Is Trump a "leader?" Today "leadership" is not respected in any environment and most managers do not have any correct qualifications, degrees, or experience. Study up on power-knowledge. Concepts: Power cannot be given to someone. It is created at the same time that it is asserted. Power is closely tied to knowledge monopolies.

The usual way into a first management job is to follow a previous manager to a new company where the manager is getting a promotion. The manager needs allies and can't trust people at the new company, so brings along one or two as managers.

Don't believe for a second that hard work or not screwing up will lead to a management position. If you think this you are not ready for a management position. For instance a lead dev I worked with screwed up a critical messaging system badly. He was already slated for a management job, so another dev was moved in to take the blame. This is what goes on in businesses as a matter of rule, not exception.

You need to make some deals and show a propensity for management 'skills' namely bending reality and perceptions towards your point of view while motivating people to do things they don't want to do.