Transitioning Careers: Overcoming Obstacles and Maximizing Impact [EM-> Staff role]
In the past two years, I've been employed at an Indian company in the role of Engineering Manager. However, my experience was marred by a lack of learning opportunities and a restrictive culture that limited my decision-making authority. Despite these challenges, I chose to stay due to personal commitments, particularly with a baby on the way.
Recently, I decided to transition to a Staff role at a European startup, embracing remote work and a more supportive culture (I loved this job and role). While the change has been positive, I find myself facing the challenge of underdeveloped skills and falling short of my expectations (It's my feeling).
How can I effectively overcome this situation and make the maximum impact in my new role? Specifically, I need to enhance my technological proficiency, deepen my understanding of business dynamics, and integrate seamlessly into the organizational culture. What strategies should I employ to bridge this gap swiftly and justify my position within the company?
Discussion
(2 comments)- 32 months agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
Ramping up into a new company can be overwhelming, even if you love the job.
I highly recommend going through the masterclass about onboarding and succeeding in a new company.
I need to enhance my technological proficiency, deepen my understanding of business dynamics, and integrate seamlessly into the organizational culture.
This is a lot, and it's near impossible to do it all at once. I'd have an open conversation with your manager and other senior folks about what they'd recommend you to spend time on. In addition to talking to people, an extremely valuable source of information is to observe people's output and how they spend their time. I call this the Talk & Observe framework.
As a Staff Engineer, I'd especially focus on (1) building relationships with people and (2) understanding what your superpowers are and what makes you exceptional. Rama talks about this in her advice as a new Senior Staff Engineer here.
- 02 months agoEng @ Taro
Specifically, I need to enhance my technological proficiency, deepen my understanding of business dynamics, and integrate seamlessly into the organizational culture
There's a balance you can strike where you can go on a needs finding exercise by talking to other senior members but also getting into the codebase to see the issues for yourself.
During your conversations with other senior members, you'll be able to get different viewpoints about things that are broken or suboptimal at your company. One of your superpowers is that you have a fresh perspective on the issues that are going on in the company. So, don't feel boxed in to some of the solutions that people may suggest to you. Try to think about the problems more holistically to see if there's a different way to solve the problem.
Once you have a list of potential projects, rank them in terms of ease of completion and impact. Do the projects that are the easiest and most impactful first to get a quick win and build the momentum for the other projects.
