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0 pointsbenreesman4y ago0 comments

> First: we no longer trust the hiring manager alone, because probably they aren't a strong developer

This is a huge problem IMHO. I topped out at L7 on the FAANG EM track, but that’s dozens of ICs and a few EMs in your org and I still think you need to be able to build the software and review diffs and write serious ones now and again. Clearly this is now only part of your job, not the focus of it, but it’s very difficult to manage a process that you don’t understand with some sophistication.

In everything from law to management consulting to steel fabrication: the person in charge is the most knowledgeable person. Carmack is the best hacker, Mike Krieger wrote code. Hell pg wrote this site and the language it’s written in while building the most successful early-stage investment firm in the world.

Obviously directors and VPs and CEOs are delegating the details at same point, but this idea that an L6 manager shouldn’t need to seriously understand the subject matter seems wrong to me both in principle and based on watching it go to hell countless times.

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4 comments · 4 top-level

joshuamorton4y ago

An L6 manager and an L6 IC do different work though. And it's rarely (read: never) the case that the person in charge is most knowledgeable about all the details.

If an L6 manager could keep all of the details of all of the things all their reports are working on organized, they aren't handling enough scope. Imo that's the difference between 5 and 6. You can no longer track all the details in one person's head.

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mabbo4y ago

> and I still think you need to be able to build the software and review diffs and write serious ones now and again.

I've had some good managers that could do that. But the people management skill set is so much more important to their job. And it's a very different skill set to being an IC.

I wouldn't argue in favour of engineering managers with no technical skills at all, but I also don't think it's fair to demand they be masters of both the IC skills and the people management skills too. It's very difficult to be good at both.

polio4y ago

Do people call it a diff in the rest of AANG?

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graderjs4y ago

That does sound ideal but it's not really something that scales with enormous companies or a globalized economy. You can always allocate the best people to the top roles in the hierarchy. The reason is not only because you don't have the right people to fill those roles who also have the skills for leadership, the reason is sometimes because you have so many of them you can't allocate them because they're aren't enough spots at the top in the hierarchy.

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