Career Pivot
Management is a different job, not a promotion in the same one
Good engineers, analysts and specialists are often offered management because the career ladder seems to point that way. This session explains what actually changes, how to decide whether it suits you, how to try it safely, and how people step back to technical work when it does not.
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A move into management is often presented as the only way up. It is one of two.
In many companies the clearest route to more pay and influence runs through managing people. Some employers also offer a senior individual track, with titles such as principal or staff engineer, or senior specialist. It varies a lot, and many smaller employers have only the management route.
The two jobs are not the same. Management means spending more time on other people's work, on conversations, planning and decisions that are hard to see as output. People who enjoyed building things sometimes find that the satisfactions are different, and some find they like the new work more than they expected.
Moving from management back to technical work is more common than people admit, and how it is read depends on the field and the company. The session is candid about both directions.
Both directions, in seven parts
33 topics across 7 areas. From what changes to how to step back.
What Changes When You ManageThe work, not the title.5
- Your output becomes the team's output
- More meetings, conversations and written plans
- Hiring, feedback, performance and sometimes difficult decisions
- Less time in the tools that made you good at your job
- Answering to the team and to your own manager at once
Many people find that the first six months feel like a drop in competence. That is common, and it passes for most.
Do You Want the Work or the TitleHonest questions to ask yourself.5
- Do you enjoy helping others grow and unblocking them
- How do you feel about conflict and delivering bad news
- What would you miss about hands-on work
- Would you want the role if it paid the same
- Is the push coming from you, or from an expectation
Trying It Before CommittingSmall, reversible steps.5
- Mentoring a new joiner or an intern
- Leading a project without formal authority
- Acting as a tech lead or team lead for a short period
- Asking for management training, where it is offered
- Talking to a manager about what the job really involves
The Technical LadderWhere one exists.5
Ask about this before you need it. Whether a technical ladder is real, or a title that does not carry the same weight, is something to check with people who are on it.
- Whether your employer has a senior individual track at all
- What it takes to move up it, and how it is judged
- How its pay and recognition compare with management's, asked of HR directly
- What it means to lead without managing people
- Choosing an employer partly by whether the ladder exists
Moving Back to Technical WorkPossible, and not a failure.5
- Why people go back: they miss the work, the role changed, or it never fit
- Keeping skills current while managing, even in small ways
- How to describe the move honestly on a resume
- What to say in an interview about why you are returning to hands-on work
- Being prepared for a change in level or pay, depending on the employer
A short, truthful reason is enough. 'I found I do my best work building things' is an answer.
Managing as a Second Career ChoiceComing at it from another function.4
- Moving from a specialist role to managing a team of specialists
- Moving into general management or product management
- What a business-school route is, and when it is and is not needed
- What to build before you ask for the role
Talking to Your Own ManagerAsking without sounding as if you are leaving.4
- How to say you are interested, or not interested, in managing
- Asking what the company needs from the role
- Asking about both paths and their requirements
- Making a trial period explicit
Common mistakes
- Accepting management because refusing feels like falling behind
- Trying to stay a full-time specialist while managing
- Treating a return to technical work as something to hide
- Assuming the technical ladder is as strong at every company
- Not asking what the role involves before saying yes
- Deciding in the first difficult month
What participants leave with
- A comparison of a typical week in each role
- Their own answer to 'the work or the title'
- One small step to try management, or to say no to it
- Questions for their manager or HR
- A way to describe a move in either direction
How the session runs
Two or three people describe their own movement between technical and management work: someone who moved into management and stayed, someone who moved back, and, where possible, someone on a senior individual track. A short discussion of the questions above follows, then small groups where participants talk through their own situation. Evening or weekend sessions, in person or online.
What your students leave with
- A realistic picture of a manager's week compared with a specialist's
- A way to tell whether you want the work, or only the title
- Ways to try management in small steps before committing
- Knowing what moving back involves and how it is read
- An understanding of the technical ladder, where one exists
- Questions to ask your manager about both paths
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Choose the work you want to do all day, not only the title you want next.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.