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Hey Unfiltered Folks,
"I PROMOTED MY BEST ENGINEER TO MANAGER AND RUINED HIM."
Answer: You assumed great engineers make great managers. They don't.
Management is a different skill. You promoted him because he was excellent at engineering. Now he's mediocre at management and you've lost your best engineer.
This is your fault.
You didn't ask if he wanted to manage. You just assumed. Most engineers don't want to manage people. They want to build things.
You forced him into a role he hates because that's the only path to more money in your company. Fix that.
Question to Consider: Did you ask him if he wanted to lead people?
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— Back —
Why: Engineering and management are different skills.
Great builders don't always want to manage builders.
Here's what happened: he was crushing it. Shipping features. Solving hard problems. So you promoted him to manager. He didn't want it, but he said yes because that's the only path to more money and recognition in your company.
Now he's managing. He hates it. He's bad at it. One-on-ones feel awkward. Performance reviews stress him out. He's not writing code anymore, the thing he loves and is great at.
His team can feel he doesn't want to be there. Productivity drops.
The cost? You lost your best engineer. You gained a mediocre manager. His team suffers. Morale drops. Code quality declines.
He's miserable. And the worst part? He's too proud to admit it. So he'll stay in the role and get worse. Or he'll quit and go somewhere that lets him code.
You created this by assuming everyone wants to be a manager. They don't.
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Back —
Action: Talk to him today.
Be direct: "Do you want to manage people, or do you want to build?"
If he wants to manage, train him properly.
Give him coaching.
Invest in his development.
If he wants to code, create an Individual Contributor track with equal pay and respect.
Let him go back to what he's great at. Stop forcing engineers into management. Not everyone should manage people.
Stay Unfiltered,
— Andy
P.S. Stop forcing engineers into management. Not everyone should manage people.
P.S.S. Buy my book to get 75 of the most painful leadership problems and fixes.
