Good Engineering Managers Just "Don't Exist" 312
hype7 writes "Here's a provocative article; the VP of engineering of a Sequoia-backed startup in Silicon Valley makes the case that good engineering managers aren't just hard to find — that they basically don't exist. The crux of his argument? The best engineers get all the benefits of being leaders, but without needing to take on the rather painful duties of management. So they choose not to move up. Compare this to the engineers who aren't as strong, and use the opportunity to move up as a way to get their voice heard."
Re:I know one (Score:3, Informative)
I have seen this in three multiple previous jobs.
The manager was awesome and everyone on the team loved him. The product the team produced became a hit and all the career managers in the organization wanted that on their list of successes. They played political games (re-org) and stole the project from under the good manager. The team withered away and all the best people left under the new leadership. The product carried on the previous momentum for a while and then joined a whole list of other mediocre products the company produced.
Re:they exist but do not have titles? (Score:5, Informative)
True, in 1970, they were paid about 50x the average salary. That's highly paid!
Of course today, they are paid 350 to 535 times the average salary. That's obscene!
Re:they exist but do not have titles? (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, I've seen many situations where the top person (or people) on a team make more than the manager. It's actually pretty common in tech.
Re:Why have a tree hierarchy? Why not a graph? (Score:4, Informative)
If you can find a way to make it scale, then let us know