The Manager’s Role in Engineer Coaching and Career Development

Episode Overview

• Somer Esat, Senior Engineering Manager at Blizzard, shares his career journey from consulting in Australia to leading a team for the game Overwatch.
• The episode explores a management philosophy centered on partnership, where the manager's primary role is to enable the success of their engineers, leads, and the overall team.
• A detailed framework for engineer career development is discussed, emphasizing clear expectations, an iterative cycle of work and feedback, and the engineer's ownership of their own growth.
• The conversation provides guidance for coaching engineers at the crossroads between the individual contributor (IC) and management tracks, focusing on understanding motivations and exploring the realities of a leadership role.

Key Concepts

• The Partnership Model: Effective management is a partnership with engineers, leads, and technical directors to ensure information flows effectively and goals are aligned.
• Enabling Success: The core function of a manager is to act as a support system, constantly asking how they can help team members achieve their daily tasks and long-term career goals.
• Structured Career Growth: Professional development is an iterative cycle: do the work, retrospect on performance, receive specific, actionable feedback, and explore new opportunities.
• Engineer Ownership: While managers provide structure and guidance, engineers must take ownership of their career progression and initiate development discussions.
• IC vs. Management Path: A critical distinction is made between senior IC roles focused on technical decisions and lead roles that involve significant people management, coaching, and planning.
• The Human Element of Management: A manager's crucial but often undervalued role is to handle the complex human aspects of work, including team members' personal challenges, feelings, and motivations.
• Support Systems for New Leads: Creating a community and providing coaching for new leaders is essential to help them transition their sense of accomplishment from individual work to team success and combat imposter syndrome.

Quotes

• At 25:41 - "How can I help them be successful in whatever it is they're trying to do in terms of their day-to-day?" - Somer Esat articulating his core philosophy and the primary question he asks when interacting with his team members.
• At 31:02 - "We always encourage folks that ownership of your career is important. You own your career. You should be the one to bring up these discussions." - Somer Esat on the importance of engineers taking an active role in their own career development.
• At 36:31 - "Your estimates need to improve or your communication needs to improve. Well that's great, but what does that mean?" - Somer Esat highlighting the importance of giving specific, actionable feedback rather than vague, high-level statements.
• At 1:00:26 - "If you're more excited to deliver a solution as opposed to help another person deliver a solution, then maybe, you know, that's something to think about there." - Offering a clear litmus test for engineers to consider whether the lead path's focus on enabling others is right for them.
• At 1:04:30 - "We're working with people, and when you're working with people, humans have things that happen in their lives... and those things are important." - Emphasizing that managing the human element is a critical and foundational part of the engineering manager's job.

Takeaways

• A manager's primary function is to be a supportive partner who enables team success, rather than a top-down director of tasks.
• Career growth requires a shared understanding of expectations for each role, coupled with a cycle of specific, actionable feedback and individual ownership from the engineer.
• When guiding an engineer toward leadership, first explore their motivations to ensure they understand the role's shift from personal technical achievement to enabling the success of others.
• The most effective feedback is concrete and specific; avoid generic advice and instead provide clear examples of what needs to change and how.