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Ask HN: Transition from Dev to Manager

4 points by Jemaclus ↗ HN
About a year and a half ago, I said to my boss in a 1:1, "Hypothetically, if I wanted your job, what should I do?" He didn't have any good non-snarky answers for me. We've worked on it over the last 18 months, which has led to my transition from a senior dev to lead dev of a major project.

So that's cool. I'm super grateful to my boss for doing what he can to help me. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'll move much further up here. This project is about as big as it's gonna get. If my boss leaves, I don't have enough political capital at this company to move up into his position. It seems that my next step is to find another position elsewhere.

As I've mentioned in other HN threads, I get recruiter emails all the time, as I'm sure many of you do. Most are for front-end developer positions, despite the fact that I'm primarily a back-end (albeit full-stack) dev. (Sound familiar, guys and gals?) However, I never get anything that even remotely looks like a leadership role or something that could potentially turn into a manager-style role.

My question is this: What do I need to do with my resume, LinkedIn profile, and other job search efforts to best put myself out there for something that's more of a Software Engineering Manager role and less of a code monkey role?

When I respond to a recruiter and suggest this, I get "I don't have any positions like that. With your background in Java, though, it sounds like you would be a perfect fit for this Javascript Engineer role" instead. Sigh.

Are there even jobs out there in the Bay Area like this? How do I seek them out and apply? How do I convince them that even though I've never had a role like this that I can do the job?

Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments? Bad jokes?

3 comments

[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 17.4 ms ] thread
fecak
Recruiter here. Part of the problem with recruiters is that they are going to reduce you only to what you are and now what you can be. If they are looking for managers, they typically are looking for experienced managers and aren't necessarily trying to identify someone who is prime to move into that role.

You should emphasize any leadership experience on your resume and LinkedIn. If you list yourself as a "Full-stack Dev", that is probably all you will get calls about. Call yourself "Lead Dev".

It could be risky to mention something like "Interest in management positions" on LinkedIn - depends on who is paying attention to your profile. You could also do some SEO type work on your profile, adding words that recruiters might use to find managers. As an example, recruiters might get a request for a manager that knows about Agile or Scrum. Sneaking in methodology buzzwords could help you appear in those searches, though I'm not sure how likely someone would be to contact you if you didn't give the appearance of someone interested in or capable of managing.

You might be better off being proactive and contacting a recruiter directly to get their suggestions and help you market your background to those types of positions. The resume is a much easier item to tackle since it's private.

If you are looking for a recruiter, I just released part 2 of a 3 part series on working with recruiters. Find part I here http://jobtipsforgeeks.com/2014/06/20/find/ .

SuperDuperTango
My two suggestions are: learn everything you can about being a good manager and leader where you are now. Use the time you have as a "new (manager|lead)" in a company that knows you're a "new (manager|lead)" to be the eager newbie (just like you probably did when you were a newbie dev). Find the managers and leaders who you think are good and who have traits that you aspire to have and learn them while you can. Being a good technical manager and leader takes some of the skills of being a good dev, but a whole other set of skills that you generally don't need when being a dev. Finding a good mentor (even if they don't know they're mentoring you) is something you can more easily do at your current company.

When you do look for another job, be up front with the company you're talking to. You may want to interview for a Senior dev position, but tell the recruiter that you want to parlay your experience into being a manager or lead. At my last company, we hired a couple of folks like this, and they almost all turned out to be good managers and leaders.

SuperDuperTango
On that second point...if the recruiter or hiring manager balks at the request to position yourself to be a manager or lead in the future, pack your bags and keep on looking.