“Let’s be honest; Nobody cares for most of the things you do. Start playing the game with its own rules.”
After serving in roles as both a Senior Engineer and an Engineering Manager, I’ve come to realize that we often prioritize the wrong objectives. We invest time in tasks that ultimately don’t matter to anyone when the day is done. Below is a cheat sheet for Engineering Managers that will help you achieve greater recognition with less effort.
Figure out what matters most
“It is all about perception. It is not what you do, It’s how you do it.”
It’s not so much about what you do, but rather how you impact others. You could be an exemplary Engineering Manager who delves into technical minutiae, reviews pull requests, authors documentation, and fosters knowledge sharing and collaboration. However, in the grand scheme of things, these tasks may not matter as much as you think. People are often less concerned with what you’re actually doing and more with what you’re projecting. The key is to play the game by its own rules. Stop dedicating hours to tasks that don’t resonate with others, and instead focus on small, impactful…
