Category: Software Development Manager

3 steps to take before moving into your new engineering management role Today, I am not going to go into why you might want to become an engineering manager but I am going to share with you how you can approach this career transition. Note that I use the word “transition” quite intentionally here. The…

Being a manager is more often an art than a science because you’re dealing with people. While this may not be a surprise, new engineering managers often find themselves challenged by the fact that their people — programmers, software engineers, and developers — are nothing like the programming concepts they’re familiar with. Each and every…

We all make mistakes in our careers and lives. However, in our careers, some mistakes are more costly than others. Engineering managers who have the responsibility of being a multiplier instead of a maker need to understand and avoid deadly mistakes, as their mistakes not only have an impact on themselves and their careers but…

Somehow, in our heads, we have this illusion that once you’ve mastered the technical skills required for your roles and you have been senior engineers for a few years, the next step for you is to become an engineering manager. You are also known to be a good team player, you enjoy working with your…

If you have a look at job openings at tech companies today, you’ll find that an opening for an engineering manager role is very common. A decade or two ago, such role wasn’t as common. On the surface, an engineering manager’s role today might look similar to that of a Technology Manager, a Team Lead,…

Maker — that’s how I’d like to be known for. But I am also a manager — my job title clearly says so. Paul Graham, the co-founder of Y! Combinator has written about two types of schedules of the two different kinds of people: maker’s schedules and manager’s schedules. It’s pretty clear from his article…

According to the Global Developer Population and Demographic Study conducted by Evans Data Corporation, there are over 22 million developers worldwide. This figure is expected to rise to 26 million in 2022. So. Many. Developers. As software is becoming increasingly ubiquitous and software developers make up 70–80% of a tech company’s workforce, there is an…

Imagine this scenario. Your startup has successfully closed a Series A funding. You were asked by founders or investors to grow your small tech organization of 5 developers to a 40–60 organization in three months. Wow, that’s aggressive growth, you might be saying. It is indeed and yet this type of growth is more common…

When I first became a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of a startup, I was young and inexperienced. I was technically capable, had led multiple software projects and had a great track record on delivering software projects on time and within budget. But I really had very little idea about how startups work. I had no…