Hey engineers. Ever notice that there's no clear path to transition from IC to engineering manager?

Poll a bunch of engineering managers about how they went from IC to management, and the story is always some "stars aligned, right place right time" answer.

One thing that engineering managers all agree on: for *YOU* to become an engineering manager, you're on the wrong track.

I want to be clear here: engineer to management isn't a promotion, it's a lateral move and the skills required are largely orthogonal. That we see it as a promotion is a failure of leadership.

Once you’ve been an engineering manager, you’ve been anointed. Now you can go back to IC, then back to management.

“I have never managed a team and would like to” is the gate.

Let me clarify something: I’m talking about changing companies for these transitions.

Mant big companies have established paths, but not everyone is a big company person / long term employee. :-)