Here’s What It Takes to Succeed as an Engineering Manager

At some point in every engineer’s career, there’s a fork in the road: do they want to continue growing as a technical engineer, or do they want to go into management?

At Cox, people can build lifelong careers — and many do — whether they choose to reach the top of their field as a technical expert or become an amazing manager who champions their own team members.  

I recently heard from a panel of Cox engineering leaders who chose the management track for their respective career paths. Here, they offer their advice on approaching career development as a new engineer and what it takes to succeed as a manager. 

How can a new engineer start developing leadership skills early on? 

You don’t have to wait until you’re a manager before you start establishing yourself as a leader within your team. Here are some basics steps to work your way up:

1. Build your credibility at work.

Start by taking accountability and ownership in your work.  

“Whatever you’re doing, do the best at that,” explained Shweta Mishra, a senior software engineering manager at Cox. “Go above and beyond; that helps build a trust that you are a problem solver and get things done.” 

2. Connect the dots between work and the greater purpose.

Take a step back to understand the “why” behind the work and the business value behind it. That’s the kind of perspective leaders need to have to be effective. 

“Connecting the dots is very important,” Shweta said. “As engineers, sometimes we get stuck on delivering the best technical solution, but sometimes we don’t stop and think, ‘why am I doing this? And what value is it generating?’” 

3. Talk to your manager about your career goals.

No matter where you are in your engineering career, start having conversations about your career goals and aspirations so the people around can support you. That’s what Pearl Mozafarian did.  

Just a few months after being promoted to senior software engineer, she started talking to her boss about the next steps to becoming a manager. 

“Communicate what you want and who you want to be so your manager, your mentors and your peers can help you get to where you want to be,” said Pearl, who started her career at Cox as an engineering intern eight years ago. In 2021, she achieved her goal of becoming engineering manager and leading her own team. 

 4. Don’t wait for opportunities to find you.

When Marv Chan joined Kelley Blue Book (part of the Cox family of businesses) as a mid-level developer 14 years ago, he wanted to be proactive in his own career growth. 

He took the initiative of setting the best practices for the front-end team and created the first style guide and design system for that team. That got him noticed, even over other senior front-end developers with longer tenures. 

“When we first launched our big redesign effort, it wasn’t those senior engineers who were selected to be a part of that team — it was actually me,” said Marv, who is now a senior software engineering manager. “So, does that happen if you’re just sitting and waiting for things to happen? Probably not.” 

5. Speak up and share your knowledge.

Sharing your knowledge, whether it’s making suggestions toward a solution or mentoring a new engineer on the team, are all ways to build relationships and share your expertise.  

“Speaking up helps you build relationships,” Shweta said. “Everyone notices this high potential and it opens doors to move to the next step.” 

What are the most essential skills for software engineers who want to transition into management?  

Moving into a managerial role often means you’ll be taking a step back from day-to-day technical execution to make sure the entire team delivers. Instead, you’ll rely on essential soft skills to help your team succeed, including: 

1. Critical thinking.  

Make sure you understand the big picture yourself and connect the dots for your team to help them with problem solving and driving value. 

2. Verbal and Written Communication.  

Himaja Ruttala, who recently transitioned into an engineering manager role, explained that her written communication is especially important now that she leads a globally distributed team that thrives on asynchronous collaboration. 

3. Project and time management.  

As a leader, you’ll be responsible for making sure your projects are on time, within budget and meet quality standards. 

4. Emotional Intelligence.  

“You need to be able to connect with your team members and drive that sense of collaboration and sense of team bonding,” Shweta said. “You want to enable your team to take that ownership and deliver.” 

5. Collaboration.  

As a manager, you’ll be the one fostering collaboration within your team, which often means holding back your solutions and giving others a chance to develop their problem-solving skills. 

“As an engineer, a lot of times you want to make sure to have the solution right away,” Pearl said. “But as an engineering manager, you need to learn to give that space and trust your team to come up with the solution on their own and help them grow.”  

What technical skills, if any, should a software engineering manager maintain as they transition into a leadership role? 

Although engineering managers are not involved in coding day to day, it’s still essential to maintain technical knowledge and expertise and understand infrastructure, architecture, best practices, code reviews and the overall life cycle of the software.

“This will absolutely help you to effectively guide your team making informed technical decisions with your team, and also to build trust and credibility within the team,” Pearl said. “It helps you know how to troubleshoot and ask the right questions.”   

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