if someone doesnt eventually end up in management, have they failed?

[William Gaatjes]

No, if you do not want a management job, you are not a fail.

It is usually the case that if you are good at your work, you rise up to a management position. But that is not always the case. If you are great at your job and like to continue that, nothing wrong with that. Some people are just like that. I do think it is important to be able to communicate and consult with each other about how the work should be done. That way it is always clear what tasks must be done within a time frame..

Horrible managers are people who enjoy the power.
Great managers are people persons who also have a deep understanding of the work they manage. Great managers are people who think ahead and like to avoid pressure and stress as much as possible. Great managers are the oil between the gears (read : the people who execute the work).

 

[JManInPhoenix]

Have no desire to manage or supervise anyone. I like just enough power to be left alone to do my job and not babysit anyone else.

 

[Thebobo]

Have no desire to manage or supervise anyone. I like just enough power to be left alone to do my job and not babysit anyone else.

Yep. ditto in my job its not worth the extra $$ for all the stress and headache.

 

[brianmanahan]

Have no desire to manage or supervise anyone. I like just enough power to be left alone to do my job and not babysit anyone else.

agreed, thats the way i feel

and its why i am trying to jump ship now

well, that and maybe get some more money while i am at it :awe:

 

[CZroe]

For technical and engineering positions it only means that they have found the best place for your skills. For menial unskilled jobs: eventually, yes.

 

[gorcorps]

If you don't end up somewhere that you didn't try to get to (and don't want), then how can you be a failure?

 

[brianmanahan]

If you don't end up somewhere that you didn't try to get to (and don't want), then how can you be a failure?

it just seems to be an unwritten rule everywhere i go. maybe it is just because i have worked primarily in the financial sector.

but that is a good point. i don't want something, but i end up where i don't want, then THAT is a failure.

 

[nageov3t]

not everyone wants to be management, and not everyone should.

I've worked with tons of great technical guys who got promoted to management and totally sucked at it. knowing the technology doesn't necessarily translate into managing people well.

my current boss is probably one of the best managers I've ever had, but he's not technical at all. he's great at budgeting, knows how to hire awesome people, and does an amazing job at keeping Project Managers/Sales Reps off the backs of us technical grunts as much as possible.

 

[Imp]

my current boss is probably one of the best managers I've ever had, but he's not technical at all. he's great at budgeting, knows how to hire awesome people, and does an amazing job at keeping Project Managers/Sales Reps off the backs of us technical grunts as much as possible.

I've been micromanaged and it's sucked, but Jesus Christ, my manager hasn't really spoken to me in weeks. If I didn't take any initiative, I'd have done nothing for the past few weeks because other task givers also haven't talked to me.

Context: I've given up where I work and do what I'm asked and what I'm asked only to the best of my ability. It's some stupid silent protest at how underutilized I am and how no one gives a shit.

 

[Leros]

I've been micromanaged and it's sucked, but Jesus Christ, my manager hasn't really spoken to me in weeks. If I didn't take any initiative, I'd have done nothing for the past few weeks because other task givers also haven't talked to me.

Context: I've given up where I work and do what I'm asked and what I'm asked only to the best of my ability. It's some stupid silent protest at how underutilized I am and how no one gives a shit.

I have the mentality that I should be creating my own initiatives to improve things when I run out of work that I have to do. Basically when I don't have things I "have" to do, I do things I "want" to do. There are always things to be done, so you should never have nothing to do.

There is nothing worse than having an employee that you feel like you need to micromanage because they can't figure out what to do on their own.

 

[MongGrel]

It used to be almost 100% no with 50 votes, I guess some managers decided to come in from long lunches or holding worthless power point meetings to cast a vote or two

Kinda almost says something right there.

 

[Jeff7]

I have the mentality that I should be creating my own initiatives to improve things when I run out of work that I have to do. Basically when I don't have things I "have" to do, I do things I "want" to do. There are always things to be done, so you should never have nothing to do.

There is nothing worse than having an employee that you feel like you need to micromanage because they can't figure out what to do on their own.

One risk I've found there: You're then expected to do your own stuff and what's on the manager's list.
Or you're left with a long string of things that are never finished, because your own projects tend to receive very low priority if they're not officially blessed or planned for by upper management.


At least that's been my experience. :\


But there is always a list of things that need doing. The list right now has enough projects on it to keep the department busy for 2 more years - assuming we had nothing else to work on. The way things are now, there's only about 5-10hrs available each week to work on the list.

 

[Anubis]

my current boss is probably one of the best managers I've ever had, but he's not technical at all. he's great at budgeting, knows how to hire awesome people, and does an amazing job at keeping Project Managers/Sales Reps off the backs of us technical grunts as much as possible.

yes there are some out there like that. Mine is the same, Shes been doing it for almost 30 years and is quite good at it, previous ones were failed engineers who simply got promoted up so they became someone else's problem

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Management sucks. I currently manage 20 miserable people who do manual labor. Some of them made $20,000 more than me last year working a little overtime each week and deal with none of the stress I do.

 

[KentState]

I have started all my jobs as an individual contributor and ended up as a manager at some point. While it can be a nice change its new to something I really want to do. You are always responsible in the end no matter how much you give your reports. In the end, I told my current employer that I can either work towards being a principal architect without reports or I would move on to a job where I could have that career path. Much more enjoyable now that I can focus on what I like doing, plus the pay is just as good if not better.

 

[gotsmack]

IMHO the correct way to answer that question is not to say management if that's not what you want to do but you have to show that you want to grow in your position though.

So you have to say something like be a team lead and help develop new hires or work more complex projects.

 

[gorcorps]

not everyone wants to be management, and not everyone should.

I've worked with tons of great technical guys who got promoted to management and totally sucked at it. knowing the technology doesn't necessarily translate into managing people well.

my current boss is probably one of the best managers I've ever had, but he's not technical at all. he's great at budgeting, knows how to hire awesome people, and does an amazing job at keeping Project Managers/Sales Reps off the backs of us technical grunts as much as possible.

Yup

People choose different fields for a reason. At my company they like to stick engineers into management roles and it rarely works out well. Most of the good managers WERE engineers before, but that doesn't mean that all engineers should make that leap. I probably will at some point... well, at least I want to try

 

[nageov3t]

yes there are some out there like that. Mine is the same, Shes been doing it for almost 30 years and is quite good at it, previous ones were failed engineers who simply got promoted up so they became someone else's problem

it's amazing how much just being good at budgeting and negotiating contracts can be.

my new boss has made my life infinitely easier because he was able to find room in the budget (and negotiate a great deal) on a piece of equipment that we'd been recommending our old boss to get for years.

 

[child of wonder]

Being a manager isn't for everyone and whether someone becomes a manager is by no means a barometer for how successful they are. I have zero interest right now in becoming a manager of any kind and when I looked at my W2 from last year I felt pretty successful.

 

[Engineer]

Have no desire to manage or supervise anyone. I like just enough power to be left alone to do my job and not babysit anyone else.

100% agree.

 

[Mide]

Nope not at all. In companies I've been in there are 2 tracks: technical and mgmt. But then if you look at the max or avg amount of money that is made, mgmt will always win while even the highest ranking technical person will make probably what a senior manager makes. Sucks.

 

[Leros]

Nope not at all. In companies I've been in there are 2 tracks: technical and mgmt. But then if you look at the max or avg amount of money that is made, mgmt will always win while even the highest ranking technical person will make probably what a senior manager makes. Sucks.

The two companies I have experience with both claim equal salaries on the management and technical tracks. Senior technical people are rarer than senior management. Not sure how that actually plays into salary.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I want to go the management route for my last 10-15 years of my working life.

Why?
I don't have to solve real problems anymore. At my company, I think I might get stock options. And I get paid more than the equivalent engineers.

Trust me ... just wait. Eventually people realize that it is all about the mighty dollar. If you think about what you dream of doing the rest of your life, think about what you thought about at age 10. Probably involved toys. Well, sad news is that this evolves all throughout your life time. By age 40, you will not want to do what you are doing at age 25.

In interviews it is a dumb question. What I want to do is win the lottery and retire. What I need to do is progress my career in such a way as to increase my pay scale.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Management sucks. I currently manage 20 miserable people who do manual labor. Some of them made $20,000 more than me last year working a little overtime each week and deal with none of the stress I do.

You need a raise. If you have too much in common with your reports, you'll be a less effective manager.

 

[BikeJunkie]

Middle management in IT is not only soul-sucking, your skills languish. It's also very difficult to leave one management job for another (when it comes to software development)... so when you get laid off and your skills have waned considerably, you're fucked. I've seen this happen to numerous people.