Why It’s Good to Be A Software Manager

For most engineers, the prospect of becoming a manager evokes connotations of spreadsheets, PowerPoint and meetings. As a consequence, the first steps into software leadership can be daunting. Questions such as ‘how will this affect my coding skills?’ and ‘how will I motivate others?’ are foremost in people’s minds. However, if approached in the right way, becoming a software leader can be hugely beneficial both for the new manager and the team. This talk dispels five common myths around software leadership and provides practical advice for how to approach a technical leadership role.

The aim of the talk is to highlight the benefits of software leadership whilst providing practical strategies to address concerns. In particular, the benefits of software leadership include: influence over technology choices, new problems to solve, commercial exposure, improvement in communication skills and being in a position to help others. The talk also offers some pragmatic advice to mitigate concerns, for example, strategies for developing technical skills whilst in a leadership role, tips for how to motivate a team and suggestions for communicating vision.

Jim Pascoe

I love all things related to modern C++ and Lua. I am particularly interested in the areas of networking and concurrency. I am a lead programmer working for Blu Wireless to create a high-bandwidth 'track-to-train' radio area network for large rail deployments (based on 802.11ad).