How Promotions Ruin Dev Careers w/ Shopify's Dir. of Engineering James Stanier
From the archives: As we progress through Season 3, we thought it would be nice to look back at some of our best episodes that haven’t been posted to our Substack page. This episode was originally published on April 11, 2022. Enjoy!
In so many professions, the reward for exceptional work is a promotion to management. Unfortunately, for developers whose programming gets them singled out for promotion, the skills to manage a team have nothing to do with the work that got them recognized in the first place.
James Stanier, Director of Engineering at Shopify, understands the pitfalls of being promoted from an IC to an engineering manager, and began writing as a way to think through the mistakes he himself was making.
Today, James is an accomplished author; his first book Become An Effective Software Engineering Manager debuted in 2020, and his second book Effective Remote Work was published in early 2022.
On this episode of Dev Interrupted, James talks about how developers can prepare themselves for a role in management, or alternatively, why they should avoid a career in management altogether. He also discusses why Shopify loves remote pair programming, how to find your voice as a developer and why writing a book can be a spiritual experience.
Episode Highlights Include:
(4:06) Why so many devs are afraid of becoming managers
(16:51) The 90 day management test
(22:46) Remote work has increased dev productivity by default
(27:47) Why Shopify loves remote pair programming
(33:01) Finding your voice as a developer
(41:17) Writing a book can be a spiritual experience
While you’re here, check out this video from our YouTube channel, and be sure to like and subscribe when you do!
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