Career Growth Through Upward Empathy
It’s been three and a half years since I closed Sublime Text and entered the world of Outlook and PowerPoint. In a lot of ways management has been what I thought it would be. There are poltics. There are constant temptations to compromise for my benefit over the developers on my teams. There are boring budgeting and strategy meetings. There are e-mails. So. Many. E-mails.
Overall, however, management has, for me, been exactly what I set out for it to be at the beginning. I willfully entered management to be the manager I always wanted — and often needed — when I was a developer. I work hard to cut back bureaucracy, politics, and process from my teams. I look for ways to empower developers to self-lead and self-manage their craft. I strive to be there for developers when needed and be completely invisibile to them when I’m not.
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