Finding Your Fit: Tech Roles for Growth and Impact
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“As an individual contributor, should I work towards a Technical Lead or an Engineering Manager path?”
“Should I switch to a Product Manager role? They appear more strategic?”
“My parents say being a manager is the best. I should have been one by now.”
“I’d like to pick the Technical Lead path — but I don’t see many women like myself in this role.”
These are real questions I have been asked to weigh in on, and this article attempts to solidify my thoughts on this topic.
Things to consider
What do these roles do?
Broadly, a Product Manager (PM) focuses most on WHAT we should do, a Technical Lead (TL) focuses on HOW we should do stuff, and an Engineering Manager(EM) focuses on getting stuff done. The chart below shows a general breakdown of each role's activities.
The Number of Positions by Level
Anchor yourself to where you are in the organizational hierarchy. A typical team composition is 4–6 engineers, 1 Technical Lead, 1 Product Manager and 1 Engineering Manager. Usually, there are more positions as an Individual Contributor (IC) up to the level of the Technical Lead for a team, and growth is predictable based on your technical skills and expectations at each level. Many organizations do not permit becoming a manager before a technical lead level to build empathy and to be able to guide the team from one’s experience as an IC.
The ratios will tell you there are fewer roles for Product Managers and consequently fewer opportunities to become People Managers even though the title has a “manager” in it.
Also, look top-down at the C-suite executives and the folks reporting to the C-suite. You may notice that most of the organization's senior people are managers. This is because it is hard to achieve the scale of impact as an individual without a team backing one up.
You may notice fewer women Technical Leads. This is because there are generally fewer IC roles at senior levels, and the lack of representation follows us in this cohort.
Know the Times
In constrained times, companies will prefer to add on a manager's scope instead of bringing in a new person for this role. They wouldn’t want to dilute an engineer’s attention on delivery by adding managerial responsibilities.
In times of organizational growth, ICs with strong communication and leadership skills will likely be given opportunities to become new managers. If there are a sufficient number of new hires, there may be opportunities for managers to grow to the next managerial level as managers of managers. The availability of managerial positions and the growth of managers are tied inextricably to the growth of the organization.
People Managers
Being a manager can be a very rewarding experience if you like growing people , and scaling your impact. However Managers have very interrupted days filled with meetings, decisions, and approvals. This can be exhausting. Managers need to deliver unambiguous feedback, represent their team in performance calibrations, and manage under-performers. This can be stressful. One has to be comfortable with the lack of control that comes in when one relies on others to get stuff done, and one may not be the best at core & tangible skills like coding.
Strengths and Interests
All skills can be learned, including leadership. But you will likely progress more in a path aligned with your strengths and interests, working on things that energize you. Take a look at the table above. Which role do your strengths and interests align closest with?
How to prepare oneself for these roles
Nothing is constant except change. People will leave, teams will be reorganized, and new, challenging projects will arise. It is in our control to be at the top of our minds when opportunities arise, which will lead to growth sooner or later. All these senior roles have some things in common.
Know the Why
There is a product manager in every role. We should know why we are picking some things to do now versus the million other things we could do. We are all juggling so many balls, inevitably some will drop. Knowing what is important helps us throw all our weight behind impactful initiatives.
Get stuff done
A product manager may step in by sharing business context to help break the tie on prioritization. An engineering manager may match the right person with the task based on their strengths. A Technical Lead may advocate for a specific tool or approach to make the team deliver faster. Being able to communicate well is a core aspect of getting stuff done. Every inspirational leader I have known has been a good communicator.
Deal with Ambiguity
Real life is messy—there are systems with no clear owners, dependencies with other teams, and more than one way to design a solution. Being able to influence people, collaborate, and drive alignment towards a plan is an essential skill.
Be a Leader
Leaders are engaged and offer constructive suggestions on products and processes. They advocate for impactful projects that will benefit the business directly or indirectly.
TL;DR;
- Maximize your core engineering skills for the longest time as an IC. This will be helpful even if you switch roles to a manager in future.
- There are more IC positions up to a certain level. However, at the levels closest to the C-suite, most positions are those of managers.
- The pace of growth beyond a certain level is linked to the development and needs of the organization.
- You will likely progress more in a path aligned with your strengths and interests, working on things that energize you.
- It is in our control to be at the top of our minds when opportunities inevitably come up.
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