
What surprised you when you first became an engineering manager at a startup? - kartickv
I hired an engineer yesterday, which makes us a two-person startup, and me a manager.<p>I&#x27;ve worked as a software engineer for almost a decade at a giant company, and mentored multiple junior engineers and interns, but I was never a people manager, and in any case, things are different in a tiny startup as compared to a giant company.<p>When surprised you when you first became an engineering manager at a startup?
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throwmeaway32
Sorry not a startup manager; but people manager at one of the bigger tech
companies, hope it's still relevant to you

Main surprise was how much I had to become truly aware of exactly what I was
saying and doing every moment of the work day, as the team really do start to
embody what you project and that are directly influenced by you and how you
act on every level. I knew this would of course be the case going into the
role but seeing it play out in subtle ways of peoples behaviour is surprising.
Without sounding condescending it can be like a parent, what you do becomes
the standard even if you didn't intend it to be.

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twobyfour
Just how challenging it can be to switch gears between people management and
development not just from minute to minute or hour to hour, but from day to
day. It's very easy to get in a mindset where you spend weeks at a time
thinking about people and process or weeks at a time thinking about code. And
context switching between those mindsets is a process that's both jarring and
slow.

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seattle_spring
It surprised me how childish a lot of supposedly professional adults could be.

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JoeAltmaier
I knew the guys I hired, so no surprises. A remote site, grew to 19 people.
Company was about 100 people. We worked very well together for years (until
the buyout). My job was to insulate them from headquarters, let them work
without interruption, report all successes and temper any issues. Go to bat
for my guys so they participated in all benefits and didn't get left out.

