December 29, 2008 at 5:46 am
Hi friends,
I need some suggestion regarding my career progress as i dont hvae any experience of senior level or manager.
I am working as a developer and have 2 years of experience...mainly with SSRS, SSIS, Access code some times.....now i have opportunity to progress further in career and my head of the dept asked me to move forward to senior developer or manager of small team (3-4 developer, trainee - technical team who will work on ssrs, ssis, etc so that i can help them and manage).
I am just confused which one is better for me. I dont have any experince of management but my manager asked me to find training so that i can perform well if i am interested. I dont have experinec of either post.
At the moment i feel comfortable with Senior developer role as i would say it is the same role with same kind of more responsibility. But manager is 50% senior developer role along with that 50% management kind of role so i need to develop new skills and lot of responsbility. Manager are getting good pay though. It is not major issue for me as i can easily get better money if i go for contract after more of 2 years of experience.
Can you please advice or share your views on this?
Senir developer or database developer manager?
Thanks,
Vijay
December 29, 2008 at 6:34 am
Let me first say, this is just my opinion. Others can, and probably will, disagree.
The question for me is, do you want to stay a geek or let those skills atrophy? Most people I've seen that want to stay a geek can move up to dev lead/principal developer, type of positions. If you move into a management track, you will spend more time, even if it's only a little, on people than you will on technology. That means technology will suffer to a degree. So, which do you want. Expand your skills as a geek or let them fall off? Once you make that determination, the rest is pretty easy.
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December 29, 2008 at 6:43 am
Senior developer or database developer manager?
It depends on your people skills and your enjoyment of working with "people" issues rather than strictly computer issues. This might be a good opportunity to see if you love managing or hate it. You can always go back to pure technical work. But if the idea of dealing with personal problems of the team members and doing performance appraisals turns your stomach, then stay on the technical side.
I switched from pure development to technical manager because I had become bored with development. If I coded something correctly it always worked. People, however, are a bit more complicated.
The advantage of being a technical manager is you are still involved with development and can understand the nature of the obstacles that your team members are encountering and help find solutions. It keeps your technical skills sharp. Also, with your "manager" hat on you can look at how the team is working together (or not), and determine ways to help the team be successful based on skills and personality traits of the members.
- Randall Newcomb
December 29, 2008 at 6:46 am
I fully agree with Grant. It's a matter of choice and personal taste. I would add that there are a few jobs that end up with a balance of both (such as data architect, team leaders on dev teams, some project managers), but you usually need to deepen your tech side FIRST, then look at bolting on other items.
And - there are lots of opportunities in all of these areas. If you're not sure - then perhaps play the field a little, and see what works. Nothing is set in stone: if you find the right org, they will give you a chance to lead if you want to try it out, and will let you go back if you don't end up liking your choice.
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Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?
December 29, 2008 at 8:56 am
Andy Warren and I gave a presentation on this at PASS and I'll give a few thoughts.
First they're different jobs. I don't think you can manage and do technical stuff, at least not well. If you've had a management job before, perhaps you can balance things, but if you're a first timer, you're asking to fail if you don't manage and spent the time for 9-5 managing.
I've read that most people leave their jobs because of poor managers and while I'm not sure it's true, most people make poor managers because they don't work at it. You really have to spend time working on learning how to motivate people, take care of them, help their careers, etc.
I think atrophy is a strong word for skills. You'll fall behind, and you'll need to work to get back to speed if you want to go back to being a developer, but you can do it.
If you want to move away from technical things, perhaps higher in the company, or you want to start your own company, I'd think about trying management. I'd commit to it for at least 6 months, and hopefully a year, and go to your boss with that as a plan and have the option to move back to a developer. You might not move back as the senior guy, and you want to be aware of that, but you should be able to go back, start brushing up on technical stuff, and be fine.
If you like being a geek, then perhaps stick with the developer role, mentor some people, help them out, and see what you like. I'd say that 2 years isn't much experience, so I wouldn't think you're that senior, but it's all relative.
Remember that no matter which decision you make, it's not permanent. You can always pick up the other one later.
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December 29, 2008 at 1:26 pm
You won't know if you could be a good manager unless you try. Thing is, you might not know it if you're a bad manager.
If you truly are interested in mgmt, give it a whirl, but ask that the door be open for you to choose The Other Path if you don't seem to be a good manager. You also might wish to ask for candid feedback/guidance as you try out the mgr role. You could be great at it, but hate it, or lousy at it, but love it. no one knows. I just think The Worst scenario is that you be a terrible manager and not know it because no one has the guts to tell you. Be open for constructive criticism. some managers are born, others are made.
And, good luck!
December 30, 2008 at 2:30 am
well...thank you very much for all your reply...it is not straight forward decision for anyone to chose between these two position...
I have worked for one year at different organization and they were very very strict at documentation and other stuff except technical bit like arranging meeting with client, take the requirement, make notes, prepare report, send it to client, take approval, save email into certain folder, take approval from manager, implement it, revise with collegue, test, deploy on test, again take approval from client, final email from client, save it bla bla.....i can understand it is very good practice and full software lifecycle....but when i think about that organization and be manager then i would not dare to be manager....
But in my current organization we are very short of staff and have plenty of work to finish so we dont have much documentation....even i can see other managers that they are working with their work and helping team members during their 20% of time....so if i go for management side i am sure that i need to give only 25% time to managing other people...in that i will spent more time to teach them about technical staff....so it is almost technical....
what i think is in future if i progress as a senior technical person (after 1-2 more years) then i need good management skills as any senior role needs this...i am getting chance to get management skills experience then it might be wise to take this opportunity....
Generally speaking manager means managing people and other stuff rather technical work but in my case if i am senior developer or manager the work is going to be almost same....because it is kind of organization and kind of work we have....and thats the reason i am bit confused....
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL YOUR REPLIES...it is very helpful..
regards,
vijay
December 30, 2008 at 7:06 am
Given your last response, I think this would be a very good opportunity for you.
One thing I suggest you consider is the personalities you would be managing. You must be strong and decisive and when you encounter resistance from your team, you have to decide what kind of manager you will be: request and listen to all comments yet be The Final Answer or put things to group decision. I strongly suggest the first course of action as the latter is hardly managing at all. That can be very difficult if there are several strong dissenting persons. Decide how you will manage conflict because there Will Be Conflict.
But in my opinion, a good manager surrounds themselves with good people and lets them do what they do best. Micromanagers are the worst. Just my opinion. Keep your team on track, handle issues as they arise, and leave the past in the past. Recognize good team work and outstanding contributions. Geeks don't seem to need that much, but, do it anyway.
Good luck, and keep us posted!
December 31, 2008 at 8:22 am
My aim is to work for roles like Business intelligence developer or business intelligence specialist or business intelligence architect after very good experience. I believe for that role it is good experience to work as a senior developer rather than manager. As i will be getting experience of management but not all paper work etc. but to give training, problem solving of junior staff, and any other issues.
I would probably chose senior developer rather than manager.
At last my one more question is that if i want to work as above position in future (i.e. BI Developer, BI Specialist, Senior SQL Developer, Reports developer etc) then dont u think it is wise to move to senior developer. Please correct me or give your helpful advice.
thanks,
vijay
December 31, 2008 at 8:36 am
Sounds like you've made a good decision from your last posts. Good luck!
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December 31, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Vijay, I have been a tech lead, director, and CIO off and on for the last 15 years. I consider myself a "business application developer", which is different from a programmer. The main skill for someone such as me is "business acumen". I must be able to analyze business processess both to understand them and to improve them.
The implications are this: I expect any senior business application developer to perform standard business processes. These include tech leader and project manager. I expect my seinors, like myself, to be able to use the project management tool to manage the project. I expect them to be able to perform as tech leader and enforce technical standards on their teams. I expect all seniors to be able to step up for any particular project and perform in that role. As a senior on a business application development team, I consider these skills to be fundamental.
Therefore, I don't consider your choices to be out of the ordinary. You have been offered both positions because your management considers you competent to perform them both. Understand that you will be performing both throughout the rest of your career, no matter what you do.
Both can be helpful to your career. If I were in your position, my decision would come down to how much I trusted my management. If I trusted them to mentor me and help me in the manager position, I would take it. If not, stick with pushing bits. But keep in mind, in future people will expect you to be able to do both. It is the nature of the profession we are in.
Have a great day!
January 1, 2009 at 12:10 pm
gcopeland, well said!
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January 5, 2009 at 7:53 am
Thanks gcopeland. It was very useful.
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