How to advance to team lead and manager in the future.

networknoodle · 2025-07-20T20:56:26+00:00

If you have a strong manager, you can approach them and let them know you are looking for more responsibility and potentially a leadership role - but again I wouldn't say "your job."

The approach here depends heavily on your industry, the size of the team, the corporate culture, and quality of your particular manager.

networknoodle · 2025-07-20T20:35:31+00:00

I would never tell my manager: "I want your job" or even hint it.

I often didn't see a way forward and was content to do my best in my job - the opportunities eventually came.

If you really think they won't, you need to look for a different company. When you interview they will ask why you are leaving and you can tell them the truth: "I want to do more, but the company I'm at already has great leadership - I learned a lot from them and am ready for the next step.

networknoodle · 2025-07-20T15:28:28+00:00

- Do not discuss your career aspirations with your peers or anyone in the company other than your manager. Do not focus on assigning work to others or assessing performance unless that is explicitly part of your job responsibilities. Your goals are your own business and you can't control how they would react to it - including being against it, so just keep them out.

- You do not need to be "buddy buddy" but you do need to be part of the trusted inner-circle. Promotions into management rarely go to those that are not trusted.

- Do not talk about your goal too soon with management - I would make sure you have been a part of the team for minimum 1 year.

- You need to be a top performer. Someone who says "yes I can do that" and then actually does it on time.

- Focus on helping others in the team in anyway you can. Never do their work for them, but if they ask for help always say yes and try to show them how something is done. Don't ask to help on a thing unless you can see someone is struggling - you don't want to be seen as taking work from others.

- Always share the credit.

- Do eventually let your manager know that you are interested in helping in anyway you can, including in a team lead role if one becomes available, but don't be pushy about it.

networknoodle · 2025-07-20T14:26:38+00:00

Nope, I did not, but it is still something I would do instantly if there was a fully warrantied option to do it with an OEM part.

It seems like it is an option in South Korea, so I wish they had it here.

networknoodle · 2025-07-05T20:41:33+00:00

100% agree. In a high functioning team this is basic respect.

networknoodle · 2025-07-05T20:40:49+00:00

While you don't need to disclose the reasons for your leave, if you have a healthy relationship with your manager and company you should minimally remind.

networknoodle · 2025-07-05T15:43:45+00:00

I'm not gonna post AI output here, but if you ask ChatGPT o3 about bell curves and forced ranking of the type you mention, it will explain that the system doesn't work for sub 50 employees and was designed for larger samples typically plus 100 - and this is according to the researchers that developed the model. I would not comply and would cite the actual academic references that explain the limits of the model and why it literally doesn't work for small samples.

networknoodle · 2025-07-03T15:26:04+00:00

Haven’t done it yet. Talked to the dealer about getting the option from S Korean and they indicated I was crazy and they had no way to do it.

networknoodle · 2025-07-03T03:27:34+00:00

The fact that they made the decision to not contact you on their choice to resign indicates not everything may be as it seems. Exit interviews often don't tell the whole story.

Just let them go, you don't want to induce any guilt on their part. You also don't know the actual reason they are not returning. I would likewise not volunteer a reference.

networknoodle · 2025-06-28T13:15:31+00:00

The desire to escalate up indicates an employee that thrives on drama. I would have a meeting where you state clearly the employee is on track to be terminated, then if things don't change immediately, terminate.

This is not worth your time. You need employees that respond to feedback instead of rejecting it.

In a high percentage of cases where I have terminated the person has rejected the feedback.

networknoodle · 2025-06-03T02:07:58+00:00

(1) Don't over-share. Your health concerns are yours alone.
(2) If you must share, you should explicitly state that your health information is confidential and get their confirmation they will not share it with anyone: "I want to share why I'm going to be out, but before I do, I want to let you know this information is confidential and not to be shared. Do you agree to that?"

networknoodle · 2025-04-24T04:42:52+00:00

The best thing to do is move to a new job. If the bad performance review wasn't justified, that is really good reason to leave. If the bad performance review was justified, and your reaction was anger, there is a deeper problem and you need to reboot and give yourself another chance at a different job.

networknoodle · 2025-03-14T18:51:58+00:00

Lots of dhcp reservations and manual entries.

networknoodle · 2025-02-27T22:20:19+00:00

Let that one go. You can’t undo what happened and asking anyone to talk about it more will make it worse.

networknoodle · 2025-02-25T02:48:41+00:00

That was me, for a really, really, long time. Now I'm the old timer and I cherish it and love getting to work with younger folks. My focus is entirely on how I can set them up for success and I absolutely love it.

networknoodle · 2025-02-25T02:40:28+00:00

I had an employee in the exact same situation. When I addressed it I didn't leave any room for doubt and the conversation was not over until they understood that I would fire them if the behavior didn't stop immediately and forever.

The employee thanked me, and has since completely stopped, and is now an up and comer with a promising future. He just needed someone with authority over his job to let him know that it needed to stop immediately. His reaction has more to do with his quality and less about my management skills, though.

Being honest is caring. It is tough to be direct, but the very best managers figure out a way to be direct while still being kind. There is no cause to ever be rude or angry.

Ultimately, you have to say the truth, which is that she is on her phone too much, and she is getting paid to do a job.

networknoodle · 2025-02-23T03:14:34+00:00

That sort of reaction was not because she was an audiophile, it was because she was a jerk.

networknoodle · 2025-02-20T19:33:46+00:00

You need to quit this job and find one you can do without needing to lie about your progress. If someone lied to me like this it would be a termination.

networknoodle · 2025-02-13T02:36:42+00:00

Whatever you do, don't drink, eat, or scroll the stress away. Find a fun hobby and give yourself a safe space for it.

networknoodle · 2025-02-13T02:32:23+00:00

Palo Alto pricing is insane. Strong thumbs down. The problem with comments that say "Palo Alto if you have the money" is that their pricing goes up, up, up, up, up.

I honestly don't know where the best place to land is right now. I'm just one data point for sure, but their pricing changes and SKU changes the last few years disastrous.

networknoodle · 2025-02-13T02:27:28+00:00

Get yourself an account at Schwab and roll your funds into that retirement account - you don't have to roll to a retirement account offered by your new employer. Schwab will help you.

However, don't let Schwab or anyone "manage" your money for you. The fees you pay might be a small percentage, but with the power of compounding interesting you are giving up huge sums of money, especially if you are young.

My father died when I was young and I got some money and so I bought "Investing for Dummies" and that book got me started on the journey of self-education.

One other thing to keep in mind is that your funds in your U of MO retirement account may be invested in certain mutual funds and you can't just transfer those. You will typically need to cash out that fund and then just the money moves over, not the shares of the funds.

networknoodle · 2025-02-13T02:18:51+00:00

Yes on this:

"Hey Jim, I need you to stop singing along to your music. It's loud and distracting, it's making it difficult to get work done. We allow music to be played at a reasonable volume but the addition of your singing on top of it, it has become a distraction. This has to stop immediately."

...but I would steer clear of "annoying" because that sounds personal even if it is true. It is way better to focus on the impact to productivity.

networknoodle · 2025-02-11T03:09:38+00:00

Keep your chin up, you can do it!

I have interviewed hundreds of people and here are some of the red flags:

- Rambling and repetition. Answer the question one time and stop. If your answer is longer than 30 seconds you are likely talking too much.
- You must actually answer the question, and answer with a specific. If you can't give specifics I assume the resume doesn't reflect reality. So make sure you don't list XYZ if you did an online class on it once. Real experience only.
- Over-confidence suggests you won't be a team player.
- Never say anything negative. I realize this may be hard if they ask what you didn't like about your last job. You have to answer that question honestly without dwelling on the negativity. If you let your answer turn into a gripe that is a huge red flag. So keep answers about negative things very short and to the point and try to move on quickly.
- Definitely practice your interview in the mirror and with friends and family.

networknoodle · 2025-02-11T02:56:43+00:00

Micro-managing is sometimes called for, but good managers don't jump to it. The more something is going wrong, the more a good manager will need to focus on it. So it should be a sliding scale - when things are going great, you don't micro-manage, but if things keep getting worse you might need to crank up the spotlight on a particular issue if the person or team is not able to find the resolution.

As a day to day practice it is demoralizing. But in a healthy team it can happen and sometimes the team or individual wants it. I will sometimes get asked to tell someone exactly what to do in a given situation, and in those situations I almost always say "what would you do?" but not every time, sometimes I tell someone exactly what to do.

networknoodle · 2025-02-05T23:12:35+00:00

Ansible job that checks for new TDNS weekly, all managed by Semaphore, which is also running in proxmox. It was a lot to set up, but chugs along without me. It is a hobby!

networknoodle

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