When You Become an Engineering Leader, are You Still an Engineer?

Earning an engineering degree or the title of software developer comes with a significant amount of hard work and is often viewed as a badge of great honor and source of pride. And rightfully so – not everyone can be an engineer. More than half of students who start out freshman year seeking an engineering degree actually graduate with one. Engineers are typically brilliant at math and capable of solving some of the most challenging problems.

However, I’ve often seen something interesting happen when engineers step into a leadership role – they begin to question their professional identity. When you become an engineering leader, are you still truly an engineer? Or are you viewed as someone who loses sight of what happens in the trenches and becomes incapable of doing the real work? Are you first an engineer and then a leader or the other way around? If you are a leader first and engineer second, maybe you’ve compromised, or maybe an important part of you has died. This is what I call the “engineering leader paradox.”

I’ve often said some of the best leaders I know are engineers or technologists. And I might even argue that in the rapidly changing field of technology, leadership comes with more unique challenges and problems to solve than other disciplines. If you struggle with the engineering leader paradox, whether you are currently a tech leader or thinking about being one, I hope you will be encouraged by these three observations I have made.

1. Moving Into A Technical Leadership Role Doesn’t Make You An Inferior Engineer.

One of the hallmarks of a great engineer is their ability to solve challenging problems. This gets even more challenging when you are a tech leader who must have your finger on the pulse of customer needs, and then communicate those needs in a way that empowers a technical team to solve problems and deliver a solution. You may not be the one doing the coding, but your engineering skills need to kick into high gear because you are dealing with problem solving at a larger “systems” level.

2. You Can Earn The Respect Of Technical Teams Even When They Have More Technical Knowledge Than You.

I once heard from a friend who has been a leader in tech for many years that the young engineers coming out of school have often surpassed long-time engineers in their knowledge of the latest technology. It’s a bit humbling but makes an important point. There is always some new technical innovation to learn, and it is hard to stay on top of it all. I would argue that every engineer brings important skills and strengths to a team. An important part of the leader’s job is to ensure those skills are leveraged in the right way and that the team is inspired to reach their goals. When the leader does that, they earn the respect of their teams.

3. Engineers And Developers Need Good Leaders Who Understand And Inspire Them.

When I made the jump from Software Engineer to Product Manager of a software platform, I was concerned that moving into a marketing role would cause me to lose my technical edge with engineering colleagues. Although my programming skills weren’t sharp, I learned that being an engineer was a bit like riding a bike (you never quite forget how to do it). Although I was no longer in an engineering role, I never lost my ability to understand the engineering world and think like an engineer. The same is true of engineering leaders. Engineers want to be led by someone who understands them, provides direction, and inspires them to solve problems that lead to progress and change. Having a great leader is much more important to your people than whether you can code in the latest programming language.

If you find yourself stuck in the engineering leader paradox, remember you don’t need to give up your engineering identity. Instead, you are fusing it with the important role of leader and making your mark on the engineering world in a different, yet incredibly important way.