Zero examination programmer with the increase in managers
We decided to continue the discussion on the topic of how people grow and do not grow , which they raised in the previous video, and talk about promotion to managers as one of the branches of career development.
Irreversible solutions no one likes. Press the button and send, rush in and tell everyone, ask something, after which you have to either marry or go to another city - these are unpleasant moments, due to its uncertainty, "What if something goes wrong."
')
If we are talking about career issues, changing positions, moving from a zone where you know everything and know how to a zone where, for objective reasons, it may not work, many of us in every way postpone this decision and push it for later.
What to do if the programmer wants to become a manager and is afraid of losing / resetting his technological expertise, and we will understand. With examples, algorithms and conclusions.
Years since 2004, the IT career curve has brought me to positions, including the selection of software testers and programmers. At first, these were the positions of the team leader with the task of interviewing engineers for 5-6 projects of our office. Then the director of our office began to include me in the team that interviewed analysts and project managers. I had to figure out how interviews are generally conducted and how to clarify the experience not only in technical areas, but also in managerial ones. When the first ten people hired after my interviews successfully passed the probationary period, the chief gave me the opportunity to make a decision on whether or not to hire people in the company.
About six months later, I was confronted with a funny situation, when the people I interviewed and hired began to come to me with questions about salary, growth in the company, and sometimes with offers from other companies (there was such a case). Not being their direct manager, I initially tried to brush off these tasks, because I had enough of my work, but then I went to consult with HR and the chief at that time already had a very grown office, and also spoke separately with managers whose employees they came with their problems and questions not to them, but to me.
Since after our conversations we didn’t rush out of the company, and some even received well-deserved transitions to the next positions, the project managers, headed by the chief, agreed that I now, apart from my duties as a leader, will also develop the “technological pool of resources” (I don’t like this terminology to a gnash, but you can’t throw a word out of the song) to answer. I can’t say that I, a database administrator, a little bit of a programmer, a tester and analyst, were smiling to become a resource manager. If earlier I interviewed people and used the opportunity to select the best Jedi for my team, seeing all the candidates, then at first I took the idea of ​​making me half the human resources manager without much joy. But once I took it, I had to put it on less regular rails and I would say that over time I fell in love with this topic almost more than my main job.
With what kind of questions people did not begin to come when the company had an “official vest” of 120 kg of live weight!
To be honest, I did not expect that the world around technical tasks is so diverse. Let me explain, everything in my head is simply square: I came to work — work. If something bothers you and you do not unscrew yourself, go to the one who will ask you about this task. You want something and you do not know where to get (money, for example) - ask. I was so taught. And with my 10-12 previous chefs and managers, it worked.
It turned out that life is richer and people have much more problems. And the fact that I just walked and discussed with my boss on a smoke break, for many there is a TASK to which it is necessary to PREPARE and gather with the spirit. It is necessary to plan, figure out how the conversation will go, and suddenly the chief will be out of sorts and at my reasonable request “Give me the money” will turn to me with a cynical side of the business and angrily answer “No” and that’s it .. the chef does not love me, the programmer's subtle mental organization is broken forever and the fragile beautiful world is destroyed.
It didn’t fit into my immature mind, but if people have the world in their heads in such a way, it is necessary to do something with it. Here, by the way, the details of people's love for me were revealed: that is, why you went to talk to me, and not immediately to the authorities - I will not dismiss and do not harbor evil, but I am not the boss. And I have already rolled my lip - that's how awesome and awesome I am, that in 2 hours of an interview I leave indelible signs of kindness and cordiality in people's hearts. Og, nevermind there.
The problems are purely communicative (“How to ask not to be sent?” Or “Why do such conversations start?”), It was often imposed that people were simply banal. They were not even afraid of dismissal - try a modern IT person to scare him with dismissal when the work goes after you. They were afraid of the transition to managers, because they were sure that while I was trying to experiment there, my technological expertise and experience would become obsolete, depreciated, and I would not be able to return . And we, human beings, do not like any irreversible actions and decisions. Or solutions that seem so to us.
I had a “client” for a similar “career consultation” from a neighboring department: Dima, a programmer, 6 years as a senior programmer with heart-rending toward management. Moreover, at the interview, he clearly did not indicate his desire to be a manager, and when he had already wiped off and accepted the team, he came to talk along the path that had been trodden by his predecessors to me.
The request sounded like this: well, shall I go to the managers, and if I don’t go? Where will I return then? With a drop in your own team? First, in my place after leaving, most likely, we will hire someone. And secondly, if I’m promoted to lead from this team, then there and then I’ll definitely not come back, if the manager doesn’t work. And if it doesn’t work out at all, it’s as if you’re looking at it and don’t get fired for provtyk on the project. This is not a production bug, these are already customers, dates, people, money. Br-rr, I do not even want to think, in one word.
And languor, meanwhile, does not disappear anywhere. That is, a person goes to work and codes the code, but the thought “I would be in charge” does not let go, plus he feeds his wife at home: “You are a good boy and I am such a good fellow, and why won't they appreciate you there, finally?” .
The situation was a little complicated by the fact that Dima's immediate boss physically worked in another city, where he was also part of the team, and, according to Dima, 100% should already have been there to accept someone ready for a managerial position there at his side.
Dima and I got 3 meetings, before he clearly formulated the goal “I want to be managers” and then we quickly enough wrote with him in a notebook (and I was taught to write in a notebook) what exactly stopped Dima from just going to the chief and this business to sound:
As the steps we came up with, this is what happened:
Divided the task into two: make an appointment on this topic and go talk (oddly enough, but individually it is easier than one big task “Go to the boss and solve the issue with the position”)
We came up with why in this conversation I: referring to the fact that we have an idea: to recruit completely junior players in the development and maybe Dima would like to raise and develop them, and can it be somehow combined with Dima? something to raise, for example in managers. Dimin chef quickly discarded this topic, explaining that they only sell middle and sinyer programmers to the customer. Since I did not have a task to convince anyone of this idea, I also cleverly agreed that, probably, yes, the topic is raw and not very elaborate.
Then Dimin chief directly asked Dima to move in general to managers (an intelligent person, by the way, would not be surprised if he understood our entire “strategic plan” and figured everything out) and explained that they had a large enough project and in theory this is a possible option if Dima himself is ready to actively move his buttocks in this direction. Wiggle what you need and do it actively Dima agreed without even listening to what exactly needs to be done, because now a small miracle was happening in front of his eyes: the great and terrible Manager Dima agreed that it is possible to raise Dima, generally speaking.
After listening to Dima's concerns about “And what to do if it doesn’t work,” Dima’s manager became thoughtful as we were before, and then we began to turn the options around.
What decision we came up with:
It was decided that Dimin chief for the next 2 months plans a business trip to the United States to the customer and at this time puts Dima to steer the project without a formal increase: that is, after 2 months or earlier, if the trip ends earlier (read “if it becomes clear that Dima is not pulls "), the chef will return and if everything is OK and 2 intermediate releases are released on time and without fakapov, then:
Dima left the negotiation with faith in humanity and very pleased with life. To be honest, these are the moments when an adult and intelligent person decides for himself some kind of task that he personally dealt with with an unresolved problem, I eventually became fond of conducting trainings and working with people.
Pros and cons of such a decision:
Minuses:
Pros:
What I wanted to emphasize: the program of transition to managers is often perceived by programmers as irretrievable, and possibly leading to a loss of technological expertise. Separating the task into “try within the pilot project without promotion” and “transition to managers, if the pilot project shows that everything is OK” we solve this issue: for several months, technological expertise and experience do not have time to disappear , but try and look at yourself in a manager's position is quite possible.
I tried this scheme with a pilot appointment without a formal change of position in other companies several times. Only in one case the scheme did not work, but it was normally accepted by the authorities and the programmer himself, who wanted to become a manager: he realized that development was closer to him as an architect and stayed in the company for a long time.
If you are currently working as an engineer, thinking about moving to managers and you have similar questions, then you can distribute a conversation around this pattern.
If you are now leading a team, now you have something to think about before your Dima comes to you :)
If everything is fine with you (crossed out), you do not want to move to managers, then we hope that you have been entertained with a little real-life story.
What other problems did I encounter during the time when I worked with people during the transition from engineering to managerial positions and how they were solved, I will try to tell you in the following materials if the topic turns out to be interesting.
-
Respectfully,
Slava Pankratov
Managers School Stratoplan
Irreversible solutions no one likes. Press the button and send, rush in and tell everyone, ask something, after which you have to either marry or go to another city - these are unpleasant moments, due to its uncertainty, "What if something goes wrong."
')
If we are talking about career issues, changing positions, moving from a zone where you know everything and know how to a zone where, for objective reasons, it may not work, many of us in every way postpone this decision and push it for later.
What to do if the programmer wants to become a manager and is afraid of losing / resetting his technological expertise, and we will understand. With examples, algorithms and conclusions.
Years since 2004, the IT career curve has brought me to positions, including the selection of software testers and programmers. At first, these were the positions of the team leader with the task of interviewing engineers for 5-6 projects of our office. Then the director of our office began to include me in the team that interviewed analysts and project managers. I had to figure out how interviews are generally conducted and how to clarify the experience not only in technical areas, but also in managerial ones. When the first ten people hired after my interviews successfully passed the probationary period, the chief gave me the opportunity to make a decision on whether or not to hire people in the company.
About six months later, I was confronted with a funny situation, when the people I interviewed and hired began to come to me with questions about salary, growth in the company, and sometimes with offers from other companies (there was such a case). Not being their direct manager, I initially tried to brush off these tasks, because I had enough of my work, but then I went to consult with HR and the chief at that time already had a very grown office, and also spoke separately with managers whose employees they came with their problems and questions not to them, but to me.
Since after our conversations we didn’t rush out of the company, and some even received well-deserved transitions to the next positions, the project managers, headed by the chief, agreed that I now, apart from my duties as a leader, will also develop the “technological pool of resources” (I don’t like this terminology to a gnash, but you can’t throw a word out of the song) to answer. I can’t say that I, a database administrator, a little bit of a programmer, a tester and analyst, were smiling to become a resource manager. If earlier I interviewed people and used the opportunity to select the best Jedi for my team, seeing all the candidates, then at first I took the idea of ​​making me half the human resources manager without much joy. But once I took it, I had to put it on less regular rails and I would say that over time I fell in love with this topic almost more than my main job.
The problems of human beings
With what kind of questions people did not begin to come when the company had an “official vest” of 120 kg of live weight!
To be honest, I did not expect that the world around technical tasks is so diverse. Let me explain, everything in my head is simply square: I came to work — work. If something bothers you and you do not unscrew yourself, go to the one who will ask you about this task. You want something and you do not know where to get (money, for example) - ask. I was so taught. And with my 10-12 previous chefs and managers, it worked.
It turned out that life is richer and people have much more problems. And the fact that I just walked and discussed with my boss on a smoke break, for many there is a TASK to which it is necessary to PREPARE and gather with the spirit. It is necessary to plan, figure out how the conversation will go, and suddenly the chief will be out of sorts and at my reasonable request “Give me the money” will turn to me with a cynical side of the business and angrily answer “No” and that’s it .. the chef does not love me, the programmer's subtle mental organization is broken forever and the fragile beautiful world is destroyed.
It didn’t fit into my immature mind, but if people have the world in their heads in such a way, it is necessary to do something with it. Here, by the way, the details of people's love for me were revealed: that is, why you went to talk to me, and not immediately to the authorities - I will not dismiss and do not harbor evil, but I am not the boss. And I have already rolled my lip - that's how awesome and awesome I am, that in 2 hours of an interview I leave indelible signs of kindness and cordiality in people's hearts. Og, nevermind there.
The problems are purely communicative (“How to ask not to be sent?” Or “Why do such conversations start?”), It was often imposed that people were simply banal. They were not even afraid of dismissal - try a modern IT person to scare him with dismissal when the work goes after you. They were afraid of the transition to managers, because they were sure that while I was trying to experiment there, my technological expertise and experience would become obsolete, depreciated, and I would not be able to return . And we, human beings, do not like any irreversible actions and decisions. Or solutions that seem so to us.
There is time for night tales
I had a “client” for a similar “career consultation” from a neighboring department: Dima, a programmer, 6 years as a senior programmer with heart-rending toward management. Moreover, at the interview, he clearly did not indicate his desire to be a manager, and when he had already wiped off and accepted the team, he came to talk along the path that had been trodden by his predecessors to me.
The request sounded like this: well, shall I go to the managers, and if I don’t go? Where will I return then? With a drop in your own team? First, in my place after leaving, most likely, we will hire someone. And secondly, if I’m promoted to lead from this team, then there and then I’ll definitely not come back, if the manager doesn’t work. And if it doesn’t work out at all, it’s as if you’re looking at it and don’t get fired for provtyk on the project. This is not a production bug, these are already customers, dates, people, money. Br-rr, I do not even want to think, in one word.
And languor, meanwhile, does not disappear anywhere. That is, a person goes to work and codes the code, but the thought “I would be in charge” does not let go, plus he feeds his wife at home: “You are a good boy and I am such a good fellow, and why won't they appreciate you there, finally?” .
The situation was a little complicated by the fact that Dima's immediate boss physically worked in another city, where he was also part of the team, and, according to Dima, 100% should already have been there to accept someone ready for a managerial position there at his side.
Dima and I got 3 meetings, before he clearly formulated the goal “I want to be managers” and then we quickly enough wrote with him in a notebook (and I was taught to write in a notebook) what exactly stopped Dima from just going to the chief and this business to sound:
- How to start a conversation is not clear. Meetings 1: 1 seem to be there, but so far all questions of Chef Dima cheerfully reported that “Everything is fine” and went to dig his bed further.
- What to do if the boss refuses is also unclear. He wouldn’t like to agree to resign from normal work ... let's say, he didn’t want managers to go to such an incomprehensible conversation with a probability of refusal higher than zero.
- What to do if the chef agrees is also not clear: because it may or may not be up to management.
As the steps we came up with, this is what happened:
Divided the task into two: make an appointment on this topic and go talk (oddly enough, but individually it is easier than one big task “Go to the boss and solve the issue with the position”)
- They waited for the chief's arrival on the next monthly business trip.
- Dima Chef himself tried with all the key employees, to whom Dima belonged, to meet 1: 1 at least once a month during these visits
- We asked for this meeting to set aside an hour more time to talk about career opportunities (a separate song, as we wrote together this unfortunate letter for 2 paragraphs of the text and how Dima gathered his forces to press the SEND button)
- I went with him to talk to the chef. It looked rather silly, I must admit. I am big, fat, handsome, smart and Dima, the same forehead, under 190 cm tall, we walk as along the corridor of the polyclinic before the vaccination, to a pre-scheduled meeting with his boss.
We came up with why in this conversation I: referring to the fact that we have an idea: to recruit completely junior players in the development and maybe Dima would like to raise and develop them, and can it be somehow combined with Dima? something to raise, for example in managers. Dimin chef quickly discarded this topic, explaining that they only sell middle and sinyer programmers to the customer. Since I did not have a task to convince anyone of this idea, I also cleverly agreed that, probably, yes, the topic is raw and not very elaborate.
Then Dimin chief directly asked Dima to move in general to managers (an intelligent person, by the way, would not be surprised if he understood our entire “strategic plan” and figured everything out) and explained that they had a large enough project and in theory this is a possible option if Dima himself is ready to actively move his buttocks in this direction. Wiggle what you need and do it actively Dima agreed without even listening to what exactly needs to be done, because now a small miracle was happening in front of his eyes: the great and terrible Manager Dima agreed that it is possible to raise Dima, generally speaking.
After listening to Dima's concerns about “And what to do if it doesn’t work,” Dima’s manager became thoughtful as we were before, and then we began to turn the options around.
What decision we came up with:
It was decided that Dimin chief for the next 2 months plans a business trip to the United States to the customer and at this time puts Dima to steer the project without a formal increase: that is, after 2 months or earlier, if the trip ends earlier (read “if it becomes clear that Dima is not pulls "), the chef will return and if everything is OK and 2 intermediate releases are released on time and without fakapov, then:
- For Dima, there is a small subcommand: 2-3 people, maybe these will be the people for whom Dima is now a team leader.
- This team is allocated a separate piece of the project, which will be planned and maintained entirely by Dima.
- Dima can recruit new people into him, not only programmers, but also testers, and in the next 4-6 months a dedicated analyst, if the project is delivered to the customer within the agreed time frame
- Thus, Dima is allocated a team with the full right of hiring and dismissal, the process of planning and control over the implementation of all tasks on the new project is transferred, and the task is set to arrange the delivery and integration process of the next versions of the product with the customer
Dima left the negotiation with faith in humanity and very pleased with life. To be honest, these are the moments when an adult and intelligent person decides for himself some kind of task that he personally dealt with with an unresolved problem, I eventually became fond of conducting trainings and working with people.
Pros and cons of such a decision:
Minuses:
- The solution is not scalable: that is, for everyone in this team, it is not applicable, but on the other hand, not everyone wants to become managers and is not ready to promote everyone to these positions.
- The solution may not work for all types of supervisors and for all projects.
- Not everywhere the chef is ready to meet in principle (and somehow we will definitely discuss separately what needs to be done BEFORE, how to speak with the boss about promotion)
- Not everywhere projects allow subcommands to be allocated to new managers. This is probably a reason to discuss which teams we choose in terms of building a professional career.
Pros:
- The ability to safely roll back to the current state, where Dima confidently solves current problems
- In the case of a “kickback” due to sudden fakapov, Dima’s reputation does not suffer, which removes the main risk, what to do if Dima doesn’t pull - for everyone he just undertook to help the chief while he was away on a business trip and the responsibility is still on the current manager
- This is quite a practical decision, that is, both the manager Dima and Dima himself do not speculatively decide that Dima will pull the manager’s position, but actually and in practice they see what and how Dima does in the new position BEFORE the real transition
What was all this about
What I wanted to emphasize: the program of transition to managers is often perceived by programmers as irretrievable, and possibly leading to a loss of technological expertise. Separating the task into “try within the pilot project without promotion” and “transition to managers, if the pilot project shows that everything is OK” we solve this issue: for several months, technological expertise and experience do not have time to disappear , but try and look at yourself in a manager's position is quite possible.
I tried this scheme with a pilot appointment without a formal change of position in other companies several times. Only in one case the scheme did not work, but it was normally accepted by the authorities and the programmer himself, who wanted to become a manager: he realized that development was closer to him as an architect and stayed in the company for a long time.
If you are currently working as an engineer, thinking about moving to managers and you have similar questions, then you can distribute a conversation around this pattern.
If you are now leading a team, now you have something to think about before your Dima comes to you :)
If everything is fine with you (crossed out), you do not want to move to managers, then we hope that you have been entertained with a little real-life story.
What other problems did I encounter during the time when I worked with people during the transition from engineering to managerial positions and how they were solved, I will try to tell you in the following materials if the topic turns out to be interesting.
-
Respectfully,
Slava Pankratov
Managers School Stratoplan
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/237047/
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