The latest articles on DEV Community by iliana sach (@ilianasach). https://dev.to/ilianasach https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F88820%2F8c7fcb0e-9a4a-4bb7-8a20-8289b74472da.jpg https://dev.to/ilianasach en iliana sach Mon, 06 Aug 2018 18:47:03 +0000 https://dev.to/ilianasach/proscons-of-transitioning-from-sde-to-sdm-of-your-own-team-1gbo https://dev.to/ilianasach/proscons-of-transitioning-from-sde-to-sdm-of-your-own-team-1gbo <p>At the Write/Speak/Code 2018 conference an attendee asked me how I first became a Software Development Manager. I explained that as an SDE, I gravitated towards managerial activities like being the Scrum master, prioritizing tasks, being the point of contact for external teams, resolving team conflict, and staying connected to the big picture. When I started looking for management opportunities within my company (Amazon), my organization's Vice President offered that I manage my current team. At first, this was a scary alternative. How would my peers feel about me becoming the boss? Did they trust me to lead them and grow them? Seven years later I am still a manager, and here are the top 5 pros/cons I experienced.</p> <p>Pros</p> <ul> <li>People management is an entirely different role from an SDE role; you will have a steep learning curve. If you start by managing your own team, you already know the code, so you can focus on learning people management.</li> <li>If you have trusting relationships with your teammates, it is likely that they will gift you critical AND constructive feedback when they become your reports.</li> <li>You are deeply familiar with your team's pain points, so you can focus on solving the right problems.</li> <li>You can more easily ramp up new hires</li> <li>You already have relationships with key contacts in external teams</li> </ul> <p>Cons</p> <ul> <li>It is easy to revert back to being an SDE; for example, when there is an at-risk deadline, you may be tempted to jump back into coding full-time, thus neglecting your management responsibilities. Sometimes your teammates or leaders will ask you to pitch in, even when you have promo docs to write. Remaining a manager will require discipline, and commitment from your leaders.</li> <li>Deeply knowing your team's code base can make learning high-level communication with senior or executive leaders harder (they get lost in the details you provide.) This is very difficult to do well. It took me 2 years to get better at it, and I only mastered it after I switched teams.</li> <li>Some of your teammates may start treating you differently, and you may feel isolated. At some point, they may stop asking you to join them for lunch.</li> <li>Providing critical feedback to your ex-peers can be tricky; providing performance reviews can be almost emotionally impossible. You will need courage, candor, and lots of practice in front of the mirror.</li> <li>I tend to become attached to my teams and stay with them long after I outgrow the problems they are solving. This was pronounced when I became my own team's manager, I just had so much history with them and refused to leave to face different challenges (I eventually did, but that's a different post).</li> </ul> <p>This path worked for me, but I would not recommend it to everyone. By far the hardest thing is managing your ex-peers performance: could you fire one of them if that is the only option left? If you think you can handle this well without hurting your team...then it is worth a try!</p> career leadership management