I’m currently a tech-lead (senior engineer) for a small team of engineers at MSFT. Been tech leading for less than a year. My current charter already involves sprint planning, backlog refinement, participating/leading designs, etc apart from direct code contributions. I have also had extensive mentorship experience in the past (mentoring interns and ICs). If I continue being at Microsoft, I have a clear path to engineering manager in a year or two. Have been a top rewards earner at MSFT and at my previous workplaces. I do want to EVENTUALLY move into engineering management. I currently have about 5 years of total work ex in the US. I also have a MS in CS from a top 15 US university. I’ve recently started interviewing for senior/staff roles externally. I have gotten an opportunity to be an Engineering Manager externally based on my interview feedback, and I am confused if I should pound on this opportunity. I could also choose to just be an IC at an equivalent level. Expecting both roles would be similar comp (remotely) at around ~400K I am hesitant to jump on the engineer manager track just yet coz — 1. I think gaining more tech knowledge as an IC first maybe essential to effectively leading a new team 2. Concern around me having way less experience in total than other senior/staff/principle ICs in the team, potentially eroding trust and/or respect 3. What happens if I just don’t enjoy or thrive as an EM, would going back to IC even be an option? 4. Attending so many meetings as a manager sounds like a nightmare. I want to jump on the engineering manager track now coz — 1. I can potentially do both IC and managerial stuff together for some time, until/if I decide to slowly wean off IC work. 2. I get to start learning about what I want/enjoy sooner (now), than say 2-3 years down the line when I naturally decide to be an EM. 3. I get to do what I love doing — positively influencing careers of my reports and build/execute strategy for the team’s growth. Please help me make this decision and provide any inputs. Current TC ~300k YOE ~6 #tech #ic #em #management #staff #leadership #leadershipprinciples
Be EM and be a technical person
Become EM, then join Meta as M1 in a couple of years and 2x your comp.
It is hard to switch back to IC track. Given you have 6 years of experience, I would suggest continuing on the IC track or TLM role till 10 years atleast. Being a staff engineer will teach you the technical ropes which are useful for your long EM career post that.
Thank you all for your insights. For now, I think it’d be better for me to be an IC. Can ofcourse move to EM in a few years.
Choose what u like to do. Do u like being an IC or do u like being a EM. You can switch back from EM to IC and vice versa anytime. Yes it’s difficult to gain respect from senior ICs who have more yoe than you but you can win their trust by showing your value to them. It all comes down to how good you are working with people vs working with code