Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by yodsanklai 1568 days ago
> Seems to me that the job of the engineer manager is just too lightweight.

Maybe you don't see other things they do. Their work isn't only 1:1 with you. For instance, hiring, evaluating employees, redirecting team efforts if new priority arises, fostering collaboration with other teams if needed, unblocking things, reporting to high management about the team whereabout, making sure every IC has what they need for their job, taking the temperature of the team, informing people about opportunities, and so on...

1 comments

> For instance, hiring

Yes, they screen CVs and join tech interviews. I also join tech interviews.

> evaluating employees

True. They use the 1:1s to keep track of the evaluation afaik.

> redirecting team efforts if new priority arises

As I said, our eng. manager doesn't usually join our planning nor has ever said anything regarding "X has more prio than Y"... Redirecting the team effort is mostly on the team itself (PM + tech lead)

> fostering collaboration with other teams if needed

Again, this happens only if the teams decide to do so. Teams are quite self sub-stained.

> unblocking things

Never happen in our team. If there are any technical blockers, that's usually solved by the tech lead + infra team. If there any business blockers, that's solved by our PM + stakeholders.

> reporting to high management about the team whereabout

Eng. managers have private Slack channels, so can't say anything about this regard.

> making sure every IC has what they need for their job

Care to elaborate? If I need an IDE, I ask in the #it-support channel. If I need to take holiday/sick-leave I ask my team and PM. If I prefer Postgres instead of MySQL, I talk with the infra team; any business-related issue? I talk to my PM... what kind of stuff one asks to their eng. manager?

> taking the temperature of the team, informing people about opportunities, and so on

Lightweight job I would say. But yes, a job nonetheless.

Everything is pretty light weight as long as things are running smoothly. It's not completely unlike an IT department: You only really figure out their value, when things go poorly.
Sounds to me like you just have a bad manager.