I don't feel confortable working in a company anymore because of my manager and the ways he work with me and the team. Here are some examples of my manager behavior, good and bad: He is a software engineer as well and is contributing to the code while acting as manager in our team. He has authority on taking decisions in the code. When some folks gave code review feedback, sometimes he replies we won't do that and that's it, even if it is a good feedback, the code get merges without changes Other times, he addresses the feedback We must have his approval before merging a PR He sets 1:1 meetings just to ask us what we are doing and how (even if we already did on the stand up) In the standup, sometimes it is extended to 1 hour when checking details from some folks tasks. He actively modifies open PRs from the team without any notice, and just asks the author of the PR to check if nothing is broken I have noticed that some members on my team doesn't feels confortable to ask questions to him, because I chat with them privately and I ask if they have questions or I just share the information I think they need, and they answered me grateful. When he gave feedback on PRs, use to say things like I mentioned this one week ago that we should do this on X way He is very good when thinking analytical and provide answers when we need. He is direct, and use to give feedback about what we could improve in our ways of communicating things. He shares the information we need in order to do our work. There are not 1:1 meetings where we check how do we feel, or personal goals, etc. More about the culture: The stability is highly valued, there is a big risk aversion, the decisions are made from up-to-down. My interpretation is: he is very good as software engineer, but I think is missing the social part. I think he would bright more as individual contributor. But for managing people, I think he is missing the communication What do you think? I am missing something on my interpretation? And more importantly, what would you do as software engineer? Considering the company is really small and I couldn't ask to change of manager.

Navigating a somewhat adjacent situation myself, you're not alone 😓

How can I work better with a difficult manager?

Senior Software Engineer at Taro Community4 months ago

Senior Engineer

Working With Your Manager

I don't feel confortable working in a company anymore because of my manager and the ways he work with me and the team.

Here are some examples of my manager behavior, "good" and "bad":

He is a software engineer as well and is contributing to the code while acting as manager in our team.
He has authority on taking decisions in the code.
When some folks gave code review feedback, sometimes he replies "we won't do that" and that's it, even if it is a good feedback, the code get merges without changes
Other times, he addresses the feedback
We must have his approval before merging a PR
He sets 1:1 meetings just to ask us what we are doing and how (even if we already did on the stand up)
In the standup, sometimes it is extended to 1 hour when checking details from some folks tasks.
He actively modifies open PRs from the team without any notice, and just asks the author of the PR to check if nothing is broken
I have noticed that some members on my team doesn't feels confortable to ask questions to him, because I chat with them privately and I ask if they have questions or I just share the information I think they need, and they answered me grateful.
When he gave feedback on PRs, use to say things like "I mentioned this one week ago that we should do this on X way"
He is very good when thinking analytical and provide answers when we need.
He is direct, and use to give feedback about what we could improve in our ways of communicating things.
He shares the information we need in order to do our work.
There are not 1:1 meetings where we check how do we feel, or personal goals, etc.

More about the culture: The stability is highly valued, there is a big risk aversion, the decisions are made from up-to-down.

My interpretation is: he is very good as software engineer, but I think is missing the social part. I think he would bright more as individual contributor. But for managing people, I think he is missing the communication

What do you think? I am missing something on my interpretation?

And more importantly, what would you do as software engineer? Considering the company is really small and I couldn't ask to change of manager.

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33 Comments

Discussion

(3 comments)

1
Elliot Kang
•AI/ML Eng @ Series C startup
4 months ago
Navigating a somewhat adjacent situation myself, you're not alone 😓
1
Karthik Gurunathan
•Mid-Level Software Engineer at Walmart
4 months ago
As @Alex says in the Behavioral Interviews course, company culture reigns supreme.

Two quick points

Company culture >> Manager Culture. Good companies have compelling ways to weed out bad managers and promot good ones.

Growth Mentality >> Static Ability. Good managers prioritise long term returns and serve as great partners in your career.

I think the company you work for may have some cultural adjustments to do. And while every IC -> manager transition has a honeymoon period, your manager seems to be pretty established. I'd bring everything to his attention over 1<>1 and make it clear that his behavior did not bode well with you.

If he reacts defensively, then another red flag. I would get out of the team/company. If not, then we know we have found common ground.
0
Alex Chiou
•Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
3 months ago
This is the classic bad manager scenario:

Doesn't really people manage, is just a coder with a lot of power

Micromanages

Tramples over others

That being said, a lot of stuff you said about him seems quite positive like these:

He is direct, and use to give feedback about what we could improve in our ways of communicating things.

He shares the information we need in order to do our work.

He is very good when thinking analytical and provide answers when we need.

Because of these, I think the situation is salvageable. Given the market and the fact that you can't switch teams, I recommend trying to fix things. Check out this thread for ideas on how to proceed: "My manager and I don't see eye-to-eye. How can I improve this relationship?"

This may be hard to believe, but I think your manager is at least average or maybe even a bit above. People often underestimate how bad engineering managers are. Most managers will embody the first 3 traits I mentioned and not the latter 3 I clipped from your list.

Best of luck!