Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

Learn about this software engineer’s journey to leadership from their personal perspective and that of their manager. 

Making the shift to engineering management comes with a host of challenges, opportunities, and growth. But no one takes the leap alone. Each transition into this role has two perspectives: a software engineer stepping into leadership and the mentor who guides them through it. Below is the recounting of both.  

The software engineer’s perspective

My growth in engineering management has been a mix of listening, studying, experimenting, and discerning what to adopt or discard.

I’ve never deliberately set out to develop skills like ownership or teamwork. Instead, I’ve focused on improving anything that benefits both the team and me. As a software engineer (SE), my priority was to be productive without creating friction for others. By staying attuned to team dynamics and sharpening my technical skills, I naturally gained confidence in leadership – first as a senior SE and now as an engineering manager (EM).

Let me be clear: my progress wasn’t a matter of luck. As someone who thrives in collaborative environments, I’ve grown by learning from both successes and failures. That said, I recognize that this path might not have worked as well – or been far more challenging – in a high-pressure, high-assertiveness field like investment banking or sales.

Knowing it’s time to move beyond the IC track

As I gradually worked to become more of an experienced SE, the idea of becoming a manager started to linger in the background. Natural questions arose, like, “Would I be good at it? Do I even want a managerial role?”

In some companies, the career ladder to management is made easy; others reserve it for the well-connected, and some dangle the possibility just to keep you engaged. Regardless of the external environment, one universal truth remains: every SE is responsible for their growth. If you want more, you have to seek it out. Competence is a significant factor in promotions, but so is initiative. Highly skilled individuals are often recognized, but even those “good enough” can advance if they are proactive.

Weighing my interests between the staff and EM track, I followed the career progression structure at my company toward management.  

The framework plan involved a three-month gradual handover process. The initial weeks included studying company documentation related to the responsibilities of an EM. During this time, I also started facilitating team events like 1:1 meetings with direct reports, stand-ups, and planning sessions with the product owner. 

After that, I began partaking in higher-level planning and brainstorming for strategic decision-making. Later on, we started swapping control over the infrastructure permissions. I became the go-to person for approval. 

The plan was standard. It aligned well with my approach to development, but no transition is linear, and I had to embrace ambiguity. 

Areas to watch out for in the transition to engineering manager

Stepping further into the role of EM, I quickly realized I had to juggle many responsibilities. From writing code and keeping up with new technologies to managing projects and creating growth plans for the team, the workload could feel overwhelming.

Managing people was a new challenge. I needed to recognize patterns in people’s behavior to understand when they are happy or not. Addressing people’s needs proactively is essential to prevent attrition and dissatisfaction. I found that being candid and transparent are the best tools for winning people’s trust and allowing them to be more open to you.  

During this transitional phase, it was also important to gain a deeper understanding of the business and company strategy. You are no longer just executing tasks – you are shaping direction. Thankfully, acquiring business knowledge comes from continuous learning. Reading books and participating in company meetings, even if it’s just to observe and not speak, can be very helpful. 

The first few months are crucial for soaking in this new environment and engaging in critical thinking. Strategic decisions can change overnight. It’s essential to be patient and translate company matters with care to the team to prevent anxiety and ambiguity about the future. 

Another skill that underwent a critical shift was communication. SEs often underestimate how much clarity matters in leadership. As an EM, my words – both spoken and written – need to be explicit, ensuring alignment across all areas. For example, explaining how strict deadlines are, or the technical analysis of a potential API, but most importantly, any kind of conflict should be addressed head-on. Networking and constant communication with eloquent people always help hone this skill. 

One of the toughest adjustments, though, has been time management. Every EM faces a tradeoff: some focus on projects, others on people, and others on personal growth. However, a common challenge they all face is the inability to do everything at once due to time constraints. This necessitates prioritization and the ability to address conflicts, especially when urgent issues arise.

At its core, an EM is still an SE, just with a wider lens. The challenge lies in making sound technical and strategic decisions while juggling the added complexity of people and process management.

How to keep growing in your new role

Stepping into this position was one challenge; growing within it is another. As I continue, my focus is on learning, coaching, transferring those best practices that reside in my head, and leveraging the EM hat in a way that benefits the team. The way I choose to do this is pragmatic: reading books, writing articles, conducting reviews and workshops, trying new processes, and adopting new ways of working.

To sharpen my strategic thinking and refine my approach to leadership, I often asked myself:

• What would I want my manager to do for me?
• What do they already do that works well for me?
• How can I lead in a way that minimizes the need for micro-management?

At the end of the day, leadership is about staying adaptable, continuously learning, and helping others grow alongside you.

The engineering manager’s perspective

From an EM standpoint, helping someone grow into a different role is interesting and scary at the same time. This is especially the case when a report is making the move from SE to EM. 

When engineers do decide to take that leap, they’re signing themselves up to a big commitment, so trust needs to be built between parties. As a mentor and leader, it’s your responsibility to ensure the smooth operation of the team until you are no longer needed. And reports should trust that you will deliver on your promises.  

Evaluate if the engineer is qualified to make the management jump

When someone asks you to help them with the switch to EM, you have to evaluate if the transition is the right move for them. If they still have some growth to do, create a clear growth plan that will help lay a path forward without demotivating them.

You have to start by checking that the candidate has the following characteristics:

Technical expertise: this should be a relatively easy step. An experienced SE who wants to switch to EM should already have the technical expertise to guide a team.

Problem-solving ability: solving problems at the code level is one thing, but an EM will face many operational and strategic problems like resource management, prioritization, risk analysis, budgeting, etc. Making sure they are capable of handling these facets is paramount. 

Leadership skills: I believe that this is a skill set that you can grow, but there must be some kind of spark. Evaluate how they react in stressful situations, handle conflicts, and treat their colleagues. Do they show empathy and communicate their decisions clearly? Close collaboration with them will give you insight into all these factors.  

People management: though many may conflate people management and leadership skills, the two are quite different. While leadership is about guiding, people management often means making those tough calls. Sometimes you need to ask someone to complete a task that isn’t exciting. 

Communication skills: EMs should be able to communicate efficiently with different audiences and switch between styles at will. They need to be technical enough when communicating with the team, be business-oriented when communicating with executives or clients, and be able to engage in public speaking skills when in mixed audiences, i.e., giving presentations.  

Decision-making skills: as an EM, there will be an untold number of times when the team will rely on you to make a decision. Sometimes, engineers will ask for guidance on implementation, but other times, the decisions are much harder, often coming with time constraints. When you are facing a production issue with no clear solution, remaining calm, methodical, and decisive is an important skill.

Ethical judgment and integrity: being objective in your decision-making and people management is often necessary, but leaders must stay true to their foundational principles throughout it all. 

Other attributes to look out for are adaptability, project management, risk management, emotional intelligence, ownership, etc, but these are easier to learn over time.

The switch plan

Assuming your report has all the baseline capabilities to make the step into leadership, the next phase is making a roadmap for their transition. This means gradually adding more responsibilities over time, with the duration period being flexible depending on the individual.

1. Technical direction

As your report transitions to their new managerial position, make sure they’re taking over ownership of technical areas in which they are already adept and knowledgeable. It removes a part of the burden and builds confidence.                                                                                      

Here are some areas that they can take ownership of immediately: 

• Rituals facilitation: most likely, they have already led stand-ups, refinements, or even retrospectives.
• Architectural decisions: as senior SEs, they should already have led the design of a module or a service and made decisions on their design.
• Leading feature refinements: as they are close to the software already, they should be able to communicate with product owners, analyze business requirements, and translate them to feature design. 
• Production support: every experienced SE has handled production issues. Leading the incident communication should be easy enough to take ownership of.
• Team tech evaluation: if the new manager was part of a close-knit team, they would likely already understand existing performance levels. Now, they should step up and communicate their feedback properly.
• 1:1s: if they are already in the team that they are going to lead, they should already have the trust needed to have honest and meaningful 1:1s. They just need to learn the proper way.
• Close collaboration with product owner/product manager: helping with rough time estimations, communicating risks, and prioritizing collaboratively should not be that hard.

2.  Software ownership

Before the new engineering manager made the job shift, they would have likely already been close to the software. Ownership of this factor should be a smooth takeover. 

On top of their initial remit, look to add ownership of the following:

• Version control administration.
• Secrets management, like database passwords, SSH keys, tokens, and other sensitive system configurations that should not be open to everyone.
• Authoritative approvals like permissions, force push to production, and elevated permissions on apps.
• Monitoring team metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Monitoring production.
• Ensuring quality delivery.

3. Becoming a manager

Now we are focusing on tasks that are not familiar to SEs. 

• Improving team members’ performance: this includes tracking, growth planning, and formal evaluations.
• Managing team members’ personal time off: ensuring that there is always capacity available for smooth operation and granting the annual leave requests.
• Ensuring on-time delivery.
• Creating short-term planning: collaborating with the product team and managing the sprint backlog.

4. Taking the step 

The final responsibilities to take over are the ones that might be most daunting to new managers. These include: 

• Engineers’ salaries.
• The team’s 360 evaluations.
• Hiring, onboarding, and offboarding.
• Team budget (though this may not always be the case, as some companies don’t make managers the budget owners)
• Plan bonding events like hackathons, group training, workshops, offsite activities, and pizza parties etc.

Avoid micromanagement during the handover

Throughout the whole process, your role as an overseer is to help guide an engineer into management. There must be mutual trust between both parties in order for this process to succeed, so allow for the appropriate amount of space. This doesn’t mean leaving your mentee to fight their own battles alone; be there to catch mistakes or help clean messes. It’s part of the process, and you cannot avoid it. But this does mean avoiding micromanagement.

Make both your roles’ boundaries clear. With every step the engineer takes toward management, that’s one step back that you take from ownership of a remit. 

Helping oversee an individual’s path toward management can be stressful. It may feel like you’re losing control, and your instincts will tell you that you can jump in and handle the situation when something is wrong. But fighting those urges ultimately helps both you and the new engineering manager adjust to your redefined roles. 

Watch them fly

Once everything settles and the new engineering manager is getting in the swing of their role, you might start to get a lot of mixed feelings.

Embrace the sadness

You may feel as if you’ve become redundant. Struggling with thoughts about your purpose and whether the new EM still needs your input. 

But this is the wrong framing. You should see this journey as your biggest success. After finally achieving your goal, it’s time for you to move forward too. Let go of your comfort zone and step up by taking on completely different responsibilities. 

Be proud

Your work here is not done, but now it has a different perspective. You’re no longer responsible for this team, but you now have a new perspective as a mentor. This shift is about recognizing how your work has come full circle, and now it’s time for the next leader to take the reins. 

Final thoughts 

The transition process is not easy, but it’s fascinating. Work closely, work hard, and enjoy it. It’s a journey that changes both of you for the rest of your lives.