What does it look like to be a manager? And, what is a manager like?

A lot of sr. engineers will choose to be project managers or engineer managers. However, no one teaches us how to be a manager and every generation has different ways to be a manager. For example, my ex-managers are led by fear and authority. They asked me to be a follower, not a thinker. Yet, while we met issues in technical, sometimes they asked me to be a thinker. Later when I was raised up as a manager, I found out it is not easy.

To be a manager which not only needs to have technical concepts. The manager needs to know how to organize and how to teach, guide, coach, and lead members. The manager needs to have a version of the trend of technology and the market. The manager needs to know how to speak or convince others for the right reasons.

In the past, I used my ex-manager's ways and became a bad manager for my team. Members isolated me and it was hard for me to know the truth about issues. After I fall, my ex-manager still thinks that leadership is led by authority, power, and fear. With few conversations with my sr. engineers who knew me well, I started changing my leading style with discussion and consultancy. Then, more and more people want to follow me and are willing to stay to work with me.

We are having different ways of leading which based on who we are. It is hard to copy or make others lead as we do. Therefore, I found that the best way for me to lead a team is by discussing and communicating. Others might be as power or fear. That is the reason that it is important to know your future manager well in the interview.