How to transition from staff engineer to software manager?

Question

Hi

I'm a staff engineer who leads a team(of 10+ reports) that does software qa and test automation. My manager tells me that I'm a software engineering manager and I don't need to worry about changing the title. I'm also not getting clear answers on how to grow managerially. But I have been told multiple times I hire really well and coach my teams to perform great as well because of which I was tasked to staff other BUs by interviewing and train other managers on the same

I'm good with python/c++ but I don't have a development experience but have test framework and automation experience of 7 years. I want to switch to an engineering management role. What's the best way I can do that? What should be my expectations? Is it correct to say that I'm already a software engineering manager if I hire, set goals, perform yearly reviews, drive projects and support technical solution design for test automation?

Yoe: 10.5

Years managing a team :3+

Tc : 170k

nigirigamba · Accepted Answer

out of curiosity, do your reports have a software development or QA/testing background. Just wondering if Engineering Manager would be the same as a QA Manager.

YUHIYOL · Answer

As a recruiter, if I saw your resume listed with those jobs/accomplishments you've talked about with regard to hiring, yearly reviews, etc. I would expect to see a Manager job title with it.

I think it's fine to say you're essentially doing that, but you'll want to be careful if you're still doing a lot of IC work. There's definitely a fine line, but my suggestion would be identify (probably with your manager) what the distinction is between being a Lead and being a Manager at your company. And then going through your current responsibilities and seeing where they fall in line.

How to transition from staff engineer to software manager?

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