Not capable of being a manager.

Question

I have around 6 years of experience working as a tech lead, it seems like I don't have the capabilities of a manager. I have a strong technical experience in system design and coding.

However I lack the competency that needed for an EM(feedback from office). Is there any other roles where I don't have to be in a managerial role and keep working as a coder plus get the same salary as EM ?

19g616l00jd5i9 · Accepted Answer

Make sure it's /your/ assessment that you are not management material, whatever that means. Your company's assessment is not a categorical statement about your capability.

If you don't want to be a manager, fine. But if you do, then the question is /why/ your company would say that, what portions of their feedback are valid, what is growth plan to address your gaps, and where are you best shots for getting into the role (may not be at your company). Create your strategy and your plan. Execute.

Capabilities can be developed. Emotional or psychological blockers can be worked through. Social and political capital can be built. Evidence of competence can be obtained.

You might consider becoming an attractive managerial hire (managing yourself) as your first management test.

Jandy · Answer

Speaking from my perch at Google, we have both Individual Contributor and Manager roles that track on the same pay-scales from L4 to L7 on our compensation hierarchy. This kind of correlates to Senior, Staff &amp; Principal engineer/analyst ranks at most other organizations.

It's probably harder in some cases to achieve the L6 &amp; L7 ranks (or equivalent) as an individual contributor than it would be to ascend the same ladder as a manager, but it depends on the business unit. Overall, there is definitely a path here to grow your career as a non-manager. At the higher levels, you might be called upon to help train or mentor newer staff in your technical area(s) of expertise, but these trainings would be informal one-off occasions, not related to doing their performance reviews, managing headcount, anything like that.

I work with plenty of folks who absolutely have the tenure and technical chops to become managers, but they simply don't want to have managerial responsibilities, and that's ok! In fact, I'd argue it's the best possible outcome for the organization when someone with those desires makes it known. That way, director-level leaders don't promote someone to be a manager just because they have been around a long time (this happens a lot, even if it's glaringly obvious the longstanding employee doesn't want to be a manager, or would be a terrible one). There's nothing more damaging for a culture than an unwilling or incapable team leader. So, when the senior individual contributors make it known that they don't want to join management, they are often given greater latitude to pursue technical projects. When you feel you've made a major contribution as an individual, that's when it's time to ask for the promotion or raise you feel you deserve. It helps to quantify the impact you've made, such as in "hours of work saved by this automation I created" or "revenue boosted because of this feature I developed", something along those lines.

madscience · Answer

Couldn't you just keep growing as an IC engineer? Principal and Staff level engineers make solid money for sure.

annihilatrix · Answer

As an engineering manager, I am not the highest compensated person on my team, nor do I make more than staff or principal engineers at my company. Agree with other commenters encouraging you to continue along the IC track.

Not capable of being a manager.

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