How can IT engineers successfully transform themselves into managers?

First, let me talk about my own experience. After graduating from a famous university in Beijing, I went abroad to study and obtained a master's degree in computer engineering. Now I work as a middle-level manager in a Fortune 500 high-tech company. The team is distributed globally. In Europe, India, the United States, and China. In the future, I will continue to share some of my experiences in the workplace. Let's start today. I will first talk about what the requirements for a first-line manager are from the perspective of an interviewer. In other words, when I interview for a first-line manager position, what aspects will I examine?

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First, technical ability. I prefer front-line managers with strong technical skills. My company also emphasizes technology. I often see VPs directly participating in technical discussions with engineers. As a manager, you must know the technical ability of your staff. A manager who does not understand technology at all will find it difficult to survive in a high-tech company. At the same time, he will be disdained by technical experts. It is difficult to attract outstanding talents to join.

Second, communication skills. As a team leader, communication skills are very important. You need to communicate internally, externally, between departments, within the company, and with customers. Many conflicts are caused by poor communication. Communication skills are also the weak point of many IT engineers. When I was in a department meeting, there were many engineers participating. I could clearly feel that many people were very nervous. They were not in the right state at all. Especially the Chinese. Indian engineers are much better in this regard. I will share how to practice communication when I have the chance. I was also a science and engineering guy who would avoid girls when I met them in college. No one is born with this ability. It can be acquired through practice.

Third, project management ability. As a manager, you usually have to handle many projects at the same time. How to allocate resources, properly handle project crises, and prioritize are all very important. The company ultimately relies on projects to generate cash flow. If a project fails, everyone will have a hard time.

Fourth, team management experience. If you recruit managers from outside, there are statistics that the success rate is only 50%. Many companies tend to promote managers internally. How to manage a team is a big subject. Because everyone graduated from a prestigious university and has a bunch of PhDs, why should they listen to you? Have you ever tried to fire someone? Even in a private company, firing is a difficult thing. Because people are not machines, they are individuals with flesh and blood and thoughts. They will not wait for you to fire them. How to deal with employees with poor performance? How to retain efficient employees? How to improve your own quality, these are all areas to be examined.

5. Do you have a self-motivated goal? Without a goal, people will be confused about their direction. I usually have to figure out what the interviewee wants from the company? In addition to salary, does he have other career goals? Only when personal goals are consistent with corporate goals, a strong chemical reaction will occur.

Sixth, responsibility. This is very important. If you want to lead a team, you must be responsible not only for yourself but also for your team. I know that there are team leaders who don't take their responsibilities seriously, which results in the disbanding of the entire team. But there are many good engineers in the team who have been delayed for several years and never get ahead. It's a pity.

I mentioned the six aspects I usually examine when interviewing for a first-line manager position. Next, let's talk about technical ability. Friends who have just joined the company after school have a problem. No matter how good you are in school, you usually know nothing at work. The boss will usually give you some simple work to familiarize yourself with. At the same time, there may be an old employee to guide you. However, you must remember that no one is obligated to teach you. You must learn on your own. There is an Indian engineer in my team who graduated from a prestigious university with a master's degree and has excellent grades.

One day he came to me (he didn't report to me directly, but was in a group under me) and said that what he was doing was too simple and boring, and asked if he could change his task. I first asked him what he was doing. He said he was running software tests. And he had just been there for three months. Then I immediately asked him to draw a picture of the entire software testing environment for me. He hesitated for a moment and said he couldn't remember it. Then I immediately drew a picture for him on the blackboard and asked him if it was like this. He said it seemed so. Then I immediately asked why these two things had to be connected like this. He couldn't answer.

Then I told him a story about a master A in my team. Once an important customer came to visit. We prepared a demonstration environment the day before. Xiao B demonstrated it. It was a very routine demonstration, and it was not Xiao B's first time. He probably didn't ask. I didn't pay much attention to it. The next morning, the customer came. As a result, Xiao B suddenly told me that when he came to the laboratory in the morning, there was a problem with the demonstration and he stopped working. He was still adjusting the program. At this time, I received a call from the big boss, and the customer was coming soon and wanted to visit. I told him to let the customer visit something else first. I was adjusting some problems here. After hanging up the phone, I immediately asked master A to build a new demonstration environment at the same time. Master A said, I'll try it. 10 minutes later, the environment was set up. The big boss happened to bring the customer over. Everything went well. I told this Indian guy to learn from master A. Be very familiar with the work you do.

He knew his problem. The young man was very smart and he immediately understood. Five years later, he has become one of the backbones of the team. The problem of the Indian guy is actually very common and normal for newcomers. But the biggest difference between him and the Chinese engineers is that he can take the initiative to express his dissatisfaction and report the situation to his two superiors. Many Chinese people may just endure it, which is actually not a good practice. It is not good for both yourself and the company. Speaking out when you have complaints and correcting mistakes are effective ways to quickly improve yourself.

And there is a simple way to learn technology. Just look at who is the master in your group, take him as your goal, see what he knows, and learn it as soon as possible. The first step is to become one of the masters in the group, if not the only one. Make sure that when your boss has a problem, he will think of you first. He will be worried as long as you take a vacation. It is not difficult to do this. Three to five years will be enough, as long as you are willing to learn and are smart enough. If you want to go one step further, you have to look up at least one level. See who are the masters in your group. Whoever you are most likely to become, learn from him. Because it is a very senior position, your boss's words often do not count. Your boss's boss needs to make the final decision.