✨ Moving from an Individual Contributor to an Engineering Manager ✨

As an engineering manager, I think of my job as spanning 3 Ps: people, process, and product. We'll use this breakdown to form the structure of how we approach our efforts to learn about the role of an engineering manager. Each month we'll cover several topics that are all related to one of the 3 Ps.

But what is an Engineering Manager anyway? If you check job postings the variation of requirements is baffling. To help get us on the same page, please watch the following video which aligns with how I perceive this role.

{% embed url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q\_bJVokYLRI" %}

Syllabus

{% tabs %} {% tab title="Month 1 - 👣Process" %}

✅ Topics

• Agile ceremonies
• Team communications
• Metrics for team success
• Leading effective meetings

🔑 Practice Exercises

• Create a 30-60-90 day plan
• Attend Engineering Team Leads meeting {% endtab %}

{% tab title="Month 2 - 👫People" %}

✅ Topics

• Weekly 1-on-1s
• Hiring/Recruiting
• Onboarding
• Providing feedback

🔑 Practice Exercises

• Conduct a 1-on-1 with each person on the team
• Provide constructive feedback to at least two people
• Conduct a Hiring Manager phone screen {% endtab %}

{% tab title="Month 3 - 🔨Product" %}

✅ Topics

• Understanding business priorities
• Cross-team project initiatives
• Writing documentation
• Understanding technical tradeoffs

🔑 Practice Exercises

• Write the tickets for an entire Epic in the tracking system
• Present a comparison of two related technologies
• Create a Project Status report {% endtab %} {% endtabs %}