Should you Stay Technical as an Engineering Manager?
Navigating the Balance Between Engineering Management and Technical Expertise
During my first year as an Engineering Manager, one of the things I struggled with the most was the growing pain of not having enough time to keep up with all the technical aspects. Even more so, I had no time to write code and play with systems like I was used to when I was an individual contributor.
Reflecting on it today, I recognize that these were all natural feelings. However, I still remember that period as particularly stressful, and it took me quite some time to make the mental switch from being someone who was building things to someone who was leading and managing people who were building things.
But in the end, after many years, did I manage to stay technical? And for you, as an engineer growing into leadership positions, should you stay technical? Should you still write code or be hands-on?
I frequently receive these kinds of questions from other engineers or first-time EMs who are struggling with similar issues. While many have written and still write about this topic, I always see two factions:
The Managers’ Ambassadors: those who advocate that a manager should primarily focus on their people and delegate all technical responsibilities to engineers.
The Engineers’ Ambassadors: those who argue that managers should remain hands-on; otherwise, they risk losing the ability to lead engineers effectively and may become ineffective.
As with many other topics in the engineering journey, I believe it’s more complex than that, and in today’s newsletter, I’ll delve deeper into these concepts, trying to answer the questions above.
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👨💻 Staying Technical vs Being Hands-On
Before diving into what an Engineering Manager or someone growing from an Engineer to a leadership position should do, it's important to understand the difference between staying technical and being hands-on, since they are often confused.
Staying Technical refers to maintaining knowledge of technologies being used in your environment and understanding how things work, even if one is not directly involved in technical tasks.
Being Hands-On means actively engaging in technical work, such as coding or building systems, and working directly with technology.
Looking at these definitions, we already somehow have the answer to our first question:
Should an Engineering Manager stay technical?
Yes, I can confidently say that an Engineering Manager, like a Tech Lead, but also a Tech Director like I am today, should stay technical. We will discuss the reasons, methods, and necessary depth of technical knowledge later.
However, what is less clear, and often a subject of debate, is whether these roles need to be hands-on.
Generically speaking I’d answer with the following graph.
So, while the need to stay technical as you progress into leadership roles remains high and constant, there's a notable decline in hands-on involvement. However, as is often the case in the engineering world, this is generally true but comes with exceptions.