Would you recommend a career in management to someone else? Why or why not?

5 comments

1. That’s a 100% subjective question. Some folks love it. Others hate it.

2. Depends on your interests. I had been a retail store manager about a decade ago before I move into another field. One of the things about being a manager that I didn’t care for was the personnel aspect. I tried to avoid being in a position over others until I was kinda forced into it last year. The part I love about my job is the research and problem solving aspect and even training people. The part I hate is now having to deal with the personnel part again. I don’t want to have to care about why someone’s late or doesn’t show up, or what they’re working on each day. Most of my team is great, but I’m currently having to spend about 30 minutes to an hour each day dealing with tracking down if some of my employees are actually working (we’re all remote) and dealing with HR to try and hold anyone accountable. That’s the part that has me looking for a new job.

3. I manage a team of IT consultants. I also have sales / delivery responsibility. I think it depends.

   The benefits – generally better money, more strategic, able to take a formal role in helping others have a fulfilling and successful career.

   The drawbacks – you aren’t as much of a “do-er”. That might seem nice but you are still accountable for other peoples’ work. It is hard to take a beating when someone messes up who isn’t you. It is hard to teach people things when it is faster / easier to do yourself. It takes a lot to learn how to teach and to be at the appropriate balance of leading by doing and not being a micromanager.

   Management very much is a skill set. Like any skill, it can be learned, but there are more bad managers than good, sadly. If you like watching TED talks, reading Peter Drucker, and consider yourself someone who likes supporting others, you might be a good fit. Many good managers need at least a “minor” in the subject they work in. I.e. I don’t program much, but I need to know enough to be helpful when my team face obstacles. I’m not a sme with an answer, but I can ask good questions.

4. I’ve been in IT for the past 25 years. I worked my way up from a desktop tech to servers and networks to a system admin. Now I’m the supervisor of the sys admin team. I only took the supervisor job to get away from my old team.

   If you enjoy being a tech and like working with machines more than people, stay a tech. I’m not a people person, am a system admin, and lead a group of system admins but 99% of my job as a supervisor is dealing with people.

5. Staff management is a tough role for most. Managers are often placed in no-win positions. Can be very stressful long term