IT Employment

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Developer to Manager

0 helpful
2 replies

by tink 1 view

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
It's a huge change to move from a Development position into a Management position. I'm curious how you transition someone from a purely technical role into a lead/management role. If you've made this transition successfully, I'd love to hear from you: What were the key points to your success? Looking back, what would you have done differently? Do you miss the hands-on coding that you once excelled at? Do you find technology changing so fast that you feel out-of-date with your technical skills? How do you cope with any of this? What kind of training or mentorship should be available to help some transistion from a technical role into a management role?

2 replies

by microbuff

OK,

You can teach a person to be a good Tech but sometimes you have a problem from Tech or developer to Manager. If the selection you made is good the person will be a good manager. lets face it everyone is not cut from the same cloth. I know when I started in IT I was a helpdesk agent later I was given one or two people to supervise then slowly over a period of 10 years I now have my own company and supervise Hundreds of people. There is no easy transition.

by nicknielsen

Having moved from the "shop floor" to management twice, I think I can answer your questions fairly easily.

First, take care of your people! Show them that they are important to you.

Second, you will miss the hands-on work. For me this was the hardest thing to do - I still wanted to do it myself, rather than letting my subordinates do the work.

Third, your hands-on technical skills will atrophy, since they are not as important now. As a manager, your focus is on systems (What software will fix this problem?), not on settings (How do I configure this software?)

For me, I coped by treating the hands-on work as a hobby that I did at home. I was able to keep my skills up, while still meeting the requirements of my manager's position.

Training/mentorship is something each employer does differently. Some don't do it at all. You might check in your local area and see if you can find management training classes or mentoring programs.

Hope I helped...

Nick

This discussion is closed to new replies.