Comments on: What Makes a Great Technical Manager

By: tokes

tokes — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:38:54 +0000

I’m not sure you and Jurgen disagree as much as you think. You both agree that in order to be an effective manager you need non-technical (i.e. people) skills. What Jurgen is suggesting is that those managers with a technical background will have more success in a management role. I tend to agree. Having empathy for your team is crucial and I know a lot of non-technical managers who can’t do this because they don’t fully understand the issues that developers face or the personality traits that developers often exhibit. Where I don’t agree with Jurgen is what appears to be a suggestion that reluctant managers (i.e. technical people who don’t really want to do it) make good ones. I would say to be a great technical manager you need to have been a technician but have reached a point in your career when they want to try something new. You also need to possess the personality characteristics you’ve both identified as important. And that’s the problem – this combination is pretty rare.

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By: Catherine

Catherine — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:43:13 +0000

Ah, the ole technical-person-who-became-management-person …

It’s the same thing since the beginning of time!

Nowhere for the technician to advance and business continues to rein in salaries at their expense.

Faster, cheaper has never produced better.

A good technician does not make a good manager and vice versa. They’re distinctly very separate and different skills.

When the bean counters stop counting how many beans they’ve saved in salaries for cheap technicians and start REALLY investing in their “people” and the quality of their products, will be the day I retire!

By: Dwayne Phillips

Dwayne Phillips — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:32:07 +0000

“…HR has screwed up the salary ranges…”

That happened in government jobs decades ago. So, technical people, who have little interest and fewer skills in working with people, flock to management.

The result is predictable: depletion of the technical ranks by the departure of top technical people and population of the management ranks with people who refuse to manage. This doesn’t work well.

I advise young engineers to either (1) have the government pay for your masters degree and immediately leave or (2) become enthralled in all things people and go into management immediately.

I have heard rumors of correcting HR’s mistake for several decades now. I doubt it will ever happen.