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0 pointsGrinningFool12y ago0 comments

"An engineer with enough experience can do the job of a VP of engineering just fine."

If you can also manage people.

If you can also manage projects.

If you can also see the broader picture and how your company fits into it.

If you know how to delegate.

If you know how to hire and retain the right kind of talent.

If you can resolve conflicts effectively.

If you can communicate well with both engineers and customers.

Depending on your org structure you may also need to make the correct choices regarding infrastructure and technical direction as you go consistently and over a long period of time.

I've known a lot of engineers in my career. Most of them were not suitable to become a VP of engineering - including those with many years of experience.

The ability to engineer is often the smallest subset of what a VP of engineering does. It's a starting point.

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6 comments · 2 top-level

codeonfire12y ago· 4 in thread

In reality that's not how it works. No one above senior engineer, and certainly no managers where I work have the ability or desire to design or write software or even cares about software or business. A VP of engineering may be able to talk about technologies and approaches very generally, but technology is changing so fast that even legitimate tech leaders have knowledge that is 10 years old. But these guys are not legit. There is an implied software gangsterism present that says "you better not challenge the abilities or knowledge of someone in power or you know what will happen." These people want their $10 million payday and are willing to enforce whatever reality it takes to make that happen.

zobzu12y ago

Sounds about right. I meet many VPs of engineering of the big companies - they're nice and smart. But they don't know that much about tech. They also don't know that much about management. In fact all you really need to know is appear as a nice guy, make some decisions and delegate 100% of the rest. It's not like if you were recruiting directly whoever you delegate to either.

Most of them spend .. most of their time in the intra political wars to keep their precious salary. I'm pretty sure they'd like to work on their stuff better, but you don't let go your millions that easily... plus you'd be replaced by someone pretty much alike.

For smaller companies, what I wrote above is actually not true. The ones I know are actually passionate, and drive the engine of the company. But then again, they don't make more than the average engineer.

bherms12y ago

In reality, that generally is how it works... In the companies I've been involved with, the VP of eng typically was a coder who possessed all the qualities the commenter above mentioned. They eventually moved up to that role because that were great as seeing the big picture, making intelligent decisions on how to delegate time and engineers into prioritizing bug fixes, new features, and maintenance/improvements that work the best for the company, and managing those people/decisions. They end up spending more time managing and less time coding, but it's generally for the best.

Swannie12y ago

Tell that to Bill Gates, who was apparently still deep in the weeds (reviewing product specs, challenging design assumptions, etc.) whilst he was CEO of a pretty large company.

(Or maybe that's just part of VP Engineering and above roles - perpetuating the myth that you are still in touch. I often wonder if these mythical sessions weren't coached for by some senior individual contributor.)

asdfologist12y ago

There are good and bad tech executives. Just because you've met only the bad ones doesn't mean that good ones don't exist.

jamesaguilar12y ago

Wanna chime in on this and say I spend a fair amount of time with my vps. I am pretty sure I could not do their job. Maybe someday, but not today. And maybe not ever.

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