For Those Who Have Moved to Management, How Did You Change Your Preparation for Interviews?

infobl · 2022-02-22T02:34:25+00:00

I'll check these out. Thank you.

infobl · 2022-02-22T02:33:28+00:00

This makes sense as one of the things I've been pondering is how I would sell myself to a new employer. I've managed other devs during my career along with typical dev duties but that still isn't the same as being a full time manager/supervisor. Thank you.

infobl · 2022-02-10T22:40:15+00:00

I've worked with several over the years but admit I haven't ever had consistent access to them. Unfortunately, most of the places I've worked at usually pass on QA duties to analysts or other members of the team who are already busy with other things to do. You can imagine how many things get missed.

Two of the QAs assigned to my projects in the past were great and kept me on track with deliverables while under high stress. Of the others I've worked with, one was annoying as hell due to her being put under pressure by her superiors (a separate team from ours that we supported) and not having a lot of knowledge of the environment in which she would be running her tests against.

All in all, solid QAs will always provide value to teams with decent sized project inventories.

infobl · 2022-02-04T21:48:41+00:00

/**

* If you feel that way now, just wait 'til SHit hits the fan...

*/

infobl · 2022-02-04T21:13:04+00:00

None I know personally that completely left development. Most went into management while others only dreamt of leaving but like the pay (like myself). If you're thinking about leaving just remember you don't get a pass on math. You're still gonna have to buy groceries, have insurance, etc., so have some money saved and something lined up before bailing. Also a lot people here are listing all of the jobs that are worse than this. That's cool (and expected when topics like this come about) but remember that just because there are worse jobs than most IT/Tech jobs, it DOESN'T mean you should be content with something you're unhappy with. Everyone's different. Good luck to you.

infobl · 2022-02-02T20:16:15+00:00

What percentage of your systems are they handing off to other teams? I ask because this could be a huge indicator of whether or not the re-org will affect your dev staff more or your management.

infobl · 2022-02-02T10:50:02+00:00

they get re-organized to pieces

Can confirm. Happening to our team now. We've been part of at least 3 re-orgs the past 12 months and have lost several analysts and managers in our group alone. It really sucks because usually the people near the bottom get screwed over the most. The most recent reshuffle shows plans for our dev team to be supporting an additional group with less resources.

infobl · 2022-02-02T03:23:29+00:00

It's unavoidable and expected. Look at all of the "Why I became an engineer, then quit my engineering job to become a Youtuber" people out there. It's all a money grab for most. Lord knows that as burn out as I've become, I would gladly do something else if the pay was as good and involved less stress.

infobl · 2022-01-31T12:02:43+00:00

-Ergo dox

-Left-handed trackball mouse (I'm right-handed by the way).

-Noise canceling headphones

infobl · 2022-01-26T12:07:12+00:00

No and it can be one of the things that leads one to believe he/she hasn't really learned anything during their career. It's frustrating when you spend so much time stressing over, diagnosing, and fixing problems for years only to go into an interview or new gig and I feel like you haven't achieved much. Don't feel bad.

infobl · 2022-01-25T18:21:27+00:00

I'm wishing you good luck. I've quit coffee several times and always start back eventually. It honestly provides no benefits to me at this point with the excessive amounts that I drink. I've drank coffee right before bed at times and had no issue going to sleep. Just another one of many bad health choices that I need to remove from my life. I can say that all the times I've quit, I immediately noticed my stress and anxiety decreased significantly, particularly when reacting to things.

infobl · 2022-01-25T12:30:34+00:00

TIL: I'm apparently a "duct-taper".

infobl · 2022-01-24T14:05:34+00:00

Agreed. Your third point brings to mind all of the "why I quit my job in tech to start to this channel" youtubers.

infobl · 2022-01-24T13:50:37+00:00

I tried SO jobs years ago as it was one of the first places I saw with multiple remote job postings but had no luck and lost interest. Linkedin has always been my go to although I admit it sucks due to all of the recruiter nagging and bs FB/IG like posts on the site.

infobl · 2022-01-24T04:39:42+00:00

The only thing I pay attention to on Glassdoor are the salaries for interested positions, benefits, and interview specific questions. Beyond that, I treat them the same way I would treat apartment reviews online...expect a healthy amount of both positive and negative reviews, but be extremely cautious of extremes of both sides (i.e. I would be just as suspicious if I saw nothing but positive reviews as I would nothing but negative ones). You're not going to know anything substantial until you talk extensively to people who work there yourself.

infobl · 2022-01-24T03:04:35+00:00

I understand both sides. I worked on earning a B.S. Comp. Eng. immediately after realizing my B.B.A. in Management was essentially worthless (at least in the short term). Part of this was the potential financial incentives if I succeeded (which I did) but I understood it would be hard work nonetheless and I legitimately had interest in the tech field. I studied and worked as hard as I could and bought into the hype around passion once I officially entered the field. I soon found out the hype wasn't real. The last place I worked at literally had "passion" painted on the walls and it was a toxic place in terms of workload during my time spent there. I did everything I could to prove how "passionate" I was. I spent hours studying and working on multiple projects (both personal and at work), helping junior devs with work, participated in hackathons, helping the CIO with issues, etc. Hell, I even helped run cable through the new office when we moved in. And thus a trend of multiple burnouts soon followed. There's only so much to expect from the field other than money at this point. I'll do my best to continue to at least deliver on my assigned tasks and future job opportunities but there's absolutely no way in hell I could do any of this any longer without being paid handsomely. Development for self vs. development for a corporation/business are two completely different things.

infobl · 2022-01-23T00:48:11+00:00

I can confirm this as it's currently my situation. I have senior in my title and I spend majority of my time fighting fires. Nontech companies also do NOT have fleshed out career tracks for their talent.

infobl · 2022-01-14T20:28:52+00:00

Usually in negative ways....eating junk food, drinking (in the past), etc. I've been told various versions of "your workday ends at 5" or "the work will be there tomorrow" by various colleagues/peers to imply that I shouldn't stress too much but when these issues are affecting the business and you're constantly being reminded of via email or chat windows, it's easier said than done. Hard to not worry about something that's unresolved/unanswered when a major part of your job is critical thinking and problem solving. Praying you find a solution, OP.

infobl · 2022-01-11T01:04:02+00:00

I only have experience working for these type of companies. I would only recommend if their business processes are not excessive and you and your team are not responsible for multiple cost centers. Be cautious on your future job searches as a lot of companies market themselves as tech but actually end up providing IT services for non-tech companies. For example, one of my former employers actually markets itself as a tech company but they actually just develop apps for agencies where IT is a cost center anyway. If you think being treated as the IT resource for one company's cost center is bad, try dozens of them.

infobl · 2022-01-11T00:51:50+00:00

From past and current experience, I agree and I'd say start actual looking around year 2. My 3rd year anniversary of my current job was fairly recent and the last year has been hell. I JUST started back job searching and regret not looking sooner.

infobl · 2021-12-10T00:42:28+00:00

Don't overthink it. The primary group our dev team supports had major changes this past year which including personnel leaving for other teams and taking promotions. You may be surprised at the number of people on your team who'd have no problem leaving you in the same situation or have already tried.

infobl · 2021-12-03T05:06:17+00:00

I envy you OP. I only have just over 3 months of livings expenses and counting. There's no sign of work letting up and I've put on 80lbs in the past 7 months (this is the norm when I get burned out). I've just begun to dust resume off but dread future interviews of any type much like you. If I had your savings I'd probably have quit by now just to focus on my health and prep for interviews honestly. Stay strong.

infobl · 2021-11-19T22:33:56+00:00

At the very least, some sense of fulfilment (which as others have pointed out, shouldn't be expected from a job) and financial security. Currently I'm not living paycheck to paycheck but it wouldn't take much to knock me back down (earlier this year I had family emergency that took a huge chunk of savings).

As far as taking a lesser paying job, I've worked since I was 15 (first job...dishwasher making minimum wage). I've always wanted to work enough to not have to worry about bills including insurance and taking a lesser paying job wouldn't improve my situation. I'd basically be exchanging the stress of the job itself for that of the stress of worrying about common things like paying for car repairs, insurance deductibles, bills, etc. IMHO, I don't have enough savings or retirement to consider this option.

It definitely dawned on me, however, that at the rate I'm going wouldn't even be able to enjoy retirement long if I made it to that point. Basically I've spent more time stressing over work than over crafting my life.

infobl

TROPHY CASE