Everyone has their own definition of true leadership. There is a piece of advice that I share with every engineer I speak to scaling up the ladder to Engineering Leadership: Leadership is a skill and as with any skill it can be learn – every day is a school day.
The following quote has heavily shaped my thoughts on engineering leadership.
💡 You have to think of yourself as your department and your department’s efficiencies, but it’s more important to think of yourself as an executive first.
Many paths lead to the top that is Engineering leadership and it all starts with the definition of the term. “Engineering Leadership is the ability to lead a group of engineers and technical personnel responsible for creating, designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating products, systems, or services.”
There are a lot of books, podcasts, articles and frameworks about Engineering leadership. Despite the experiences under my belt, and as any good technical professional will tell you; Leaders must provide structure and definition to be able to effectively support their teams and deliver excellent products and features.
These are my notes on this topic.
Do not obsess to become a manager or leader. Ask yourself:
- Why do I want to do this?
- What assets do I have to contribute?
- What liabilities do I bring?
Engineering Leaders Roles & Responsibilities
- Delivering a full-scale implementation of a feature or product as defined by stakeholders.Ensuring the quality of code meets defined expectations.
- Training their team to prepare them for the responsibilities that will help progress their careers over a defined career lattice.
- Managing defined stakeholder expectations.
- Making sure their team is up to speed on defined best practices.
The key is to start early on. Let’s explore how.
Clearly, there are a lot of great engineering blogs out there worth following. I hope this read sets you on the same path to Engineering Leadership
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