In my experience, signs of a bad manager: - Doesn’t hold to their end of the promise. - Can’t explain clearly why they can’t promote (what do you need to work on, does the company not have enough funds, etc). - Is technically weak. They don’t understand good system design or understand key aspects of codebase. - Doesn’t protect their employees. - Blatant toxic traits, harasses people, etc. - Acts as an echo for their manager (ie they are just a lapdog). - No ambition. - Doesn’t help monitor the system (ie dashboards, alerts, takes part in on call). - Doesn’t keep up with modern technologies and cant help decide what’s best fit for team. - Isnt a well rounded engineer or specific expert. - Isnt socially aware, has good reading comprehension skills, and communicates clearly.

For me good middle management is like a good user experience. If you don't think about them very often, they are doing a good job. Bad managers are the ones that get in your way and won't let you do your job.

I'm a technical manager at a high-end consulting firm. It's only been a year so far, but I think one of the things I do well is making sure that my team feels like they can work with me to figure out a solution to their code/problem. To me, a good manager is someone who is very technically skilled in many areas and the team of ICs feel that they can rely on for help with their work when needed. Someone who not only manages, but works, learns, and architects solutions alongside a team is what I aim to be. A bad manager is someone who just tells the team what to do and says to get it done while using his/her position to stand a foot above them.

If the management chain above your manager is weak, a good manager won’t be able to do anything to keep you. Also there are politics and soft skills to lead your career to a staff level and higher, many managers don’t know how to navigate this

My engineering manager is all over the place. Everything is a rush, everything is urgent, everything is always an emergency when it never needs to be - I'm so sick and tired of it. I love the company I work at, I really really really do. But I just can't take my engineering manage anymore. I'm actively applying else where to get away from him. He pretends he cares and gives me vague feedback during 1:1s. My entire worth is based on how many JIRA tickets are in my To Do queue during out weekly 1:1s rather than what I've completed thus far during the sprint. I really don't want to leave the company I'm at but I have no choice. My mental health is in shambles. I'm quitting my manager, not the company.

a good manager connects with the team, is supportive not only on the professional side but also in the personal side, is a cheerleader of your work and wants to see you grow and succeed, knows that the team success is his success.

Here's my #1 surefire way of knowing if an SDM is bad: if they were a TPM before being an SDM, they are bad.

Love the new camera angle and presentation. As always, good content that is not easily found anywhere on tech KZfaq. Looking forward to the next one!

I am working for AWS. This should be in new hire material !!! Unfortunately, I only find out you channel and how important your mgr is after 2 precious years. Thank you!

Honest Survey: "Are you happy with your manager? Answer yes to keep your job. Answer no to start a work collection report on you for HR to fire you. Note: we say this survey is anonymous, but we know who fills them out via IP addresses and/or handwriting"

The videos are such great quality. Your effort is recognized. Very watchable, enjoyable, and informative. Good cuts, edits, music choice, graphics etc. Really enjoyed the content, I'm confident this level of content will carry you very far in your KZfaq path.

I always love your well done vidoes. I'm learning so much as a mid level IC. It's really great having such good mentorship!

Thanks for sharing these insights and I agree that interviewing goes both way and is important to assess not just the company and team you're going into but also the manager you're going to work with.

Another thing is consistency, some manager gives you conflicting/inconsistent feedback about your performance & promotion timeline, which would be a bad signal too.

you're absolutely brilliant and well spoken. i wish you'd upload more! I dont work in tech, but a lot of the ideas/strategies you discuss are very applicable across industries.

I learned so much from your channel!! Thank you so much for sharing the knowledge

Look for signals: 1. If you are the best in your team you should leave to keep growing 2. See if smart people are staying 3. See if the manager is staying

one thing I'd like to point out with the business survey data... many people try to go around the question. I know after being a T1 FC associate most of my peers would pick the 1st/2nd best option regarding superiors, or the non-answer options such as don't know/don't wish to answer. They don't know who can and cannot see their answers, and they know that the answers can be traced back to them because HR &/OR Safety will try to help them resolve a negative issue they answer. Since it's a blackbox to them, and they know from experience that at least some can see the answers and trace it back to them, they don't trust it and avoid giving honest answers.

This video was awesome! Keep it up!

Didn't think I'd spot a rainier in your vids! Thanks for the thoughts

Establishing trust is the foremost important thing. Besides that, it's very tricky to balance team dynamics. Surly you want to keep your over performers around, but they also in turn take out too much oxygen in the room, and take quite an effort to make them happy and not leave (after all they are likely the ones who can leave easily)

I really like your speaking style/energy. You've found the ideal midpoint between high energy and calmness imo.

In my experience, the manager can be good or bad, rarely in the middle. A good manager feels like is helping you doing your job and is easy to work with. A bad manager gets in the way of you doing your job and its a nightmare to work with

Just watched all your videos. I'm a Grade 8 engineer at Solidigm (Intel's recently sold NAND Product Solutions Group) which is roughly equivalent to Amazon's Senior SDE (more like the bottom half of SDE as we have one more level before Amazon's Principal level) and found the advice very relevant. Keep 'em coming!

The only issue I see here, is that gathering this level of information is quite hard if not impossible sometimes. Those are fundamental to make choices, but everyone involved will get in the way and try not to share it. Even purposely hide it (example, the fact that seniors are leaving). The only way around this, is to be moving within the same company, and have developed (over the years) a network that is independent from hierarchies. That is not suitable when joining a company, or if you have been in a place for a relatively short amount of time.

Thanks for great videos. Good management is not so mysterious. There is a school of thought on management. Please note that good managers know that leadership and management are different things and are able to do both, usually applying the skill that's needed at the time, managing or leading.

New here, keep up the good work man, I appreciate your input

Love these videos! Could you please make a video on how to succeed as a entry level software dev (ie SDE L4) ?

Can see the increased prod value! Great work!

Great video, congratulations. This video mainly focused on frontline managers, I'm curious to hear your take on middle managers. One of the reason I'm transitioning to software from hardware engineering is because i felt very isolated on project discussions when software topics came up. I do want to lead by example, and i do feel that the next 6-12 months of learning SW Eng is crucial to become a credible lead. Thanks for the videos, keep up the good work.

Props for Janelle Monae in the background 😍 Just swinging past by to share a word of appreciation for your videos, quality content,healthy and very pragmatic, just what I need! Definitely standing out in the sea of poor videos with copypaste content with not much of impactful insights.

Those surveys never ask broader questions like "do you think you have a good working relationship with your boss" etc. Often times I have constructive criticism for a boss but don't want to answer the questions asked negatively because it will make them sound like a bad person or something. Basically you can never anonymously give feedback that actually improves situations.

They need to have a better criteria for managers. A bad manager can do a lot of damage to the team members, or the company. It's also very hard to get that feedback.

Another good one, Steve.

Just joined AWS about a year ago. Any advice on looking for a mentor internally? Should I be using the company mentor-finder tool or through referrals from people my manager or tech lead recommends?

I had a manager tell me they didn't trust my opinion on a certain subject because it wasn't what they liked. (There really was no right answer, just an opinion on what an end user would like). At that moment the relationship went from rocky to bad. I think a good manager is one that defers to the process of the SDLC and the experts within, without inserting their own opinions but also defers to the team as to what is priority and what can actually be accomplished. I think if you notice no one in your team pushes back on demands made by the manager and everyone just says 'yes', you have a problem and it may not ever come to light.

This is super helpful

This is really helpful. Engineer at SpaceX here and what your saying has really changed my scope of work for the better. Thanks :)

Im a systems engineer One of the most experienced in my role My manager advertised for 2, roles 1, of which i applied for. He told me i am too reliable as a contractor and can move in and out of roles very easily to fill other spots in the team, due to the politics, hed rather keep me as a contractor and reward new starters with less experience with a full time position?? What did i do about this? Well i have a new job in 4 weeks similar pay for less hours at work. If you are a manager, LEARN how to play chess you better be aware of each individual you have on your team and always reward loyalty over politics, it will make your job easier.

I've had great managers when I was young, I didn't know they were good until I aged in my career and miss their qualities.

These are signs for me that I have a good manager: 1. Is always willing to answer questions, or tell you who can answer them. 2. Doesn't micromanage, respects and trusts you enough to figure things out independently and do your job. 3. When asking what you can do to move ahead in your career, they can give you concrete goals and will steer you to projects and tasks that can help you accomplish that advancement. 4. In general, they are amicable and try to be more encouraging than be negative.

Hey dude, I'm a big fan of the channel. I am in my early 30's and switching careers -- I am currently taking a bootcamp for software currently and I'm just about at the job searching phase. I have found you as I was looking to absorb as much knowledge about what to look for. What you are talking about isn't immediately applicable, but I really respect and appreciate your perspective about the bigger picture. 10/10 followed and recommended you to many peers. Big thanks for your videos and sharing your thoughts

As you pointed out, the problem with upward manager reviews is that they are multiple choice questions with _optional_ comments which ICs rarely fill out. This makes their use as a barometer of the manager's ability almost useless.

Hi Steve, I found your videos from work. Someone posted a link to one of your videos. I was trying to watch your video and follow along. But somehow I always drifted away. Today I watched your video and observed the music in the background is causing me to lose focus. If I can share a little feedback, it would be maybe you don’t need background music or instead of continuous music just a recurring beat every 30 sec might be better. I’m interested to learn more from you. Best!

One thing to keep in mind as well in these interesting economic times, last person in is often the first person laid off.

I was a hell of a good manager, too bad that a lot felt upon me from the heads I had and I remember crying at 4 am with a horrible headache before the latest reprocessing that would be checked at 9 am of that day. I quit the next week because it was freaking frustrating, and despite all I did all the messy stuff was thrown at us. I dont want more managing no matter the pay because of the stress I will aim lower if it can pay the bills.

One thing you should keep in mind is that bad managers can make you a bad engineer before you leave. So who knows...

Since SEM/SDM are generally considered people management role, is hiring the largest piece of job for a SEM/SDM? In my department, the team was fairly stable and not much hiring activities, each manager had 5-10 engineers reporting to them. Once, I was discussing with my manager about career progression to staff engineer level. I was told that staff engineers are expected to take up responsibility of managing other ICs' performance and productivity. I always thought this is manager's core job in terms of people management. So I wondered what exactly was my manager's day to day job (as we already had project manager, product manager, training manager, etc., and SEM usually not involved in project activities except sprint start/end meetings), but i was hesitate to ask 😅

Hi mate, This might not be the correct comment section to reach you about my question but let me try :) I have a new engineering manager lady which gives me the feeling everytime that she is prioritising and trying to enforce her own goals over me and started to get away emotionally from that person. Basically I don't feel anymore to walk an extra mile for my company because of that reason. Because I feel like this selfish behaviour will be satisfied if I go in the direction I am being enforced to. In our last 1:1, I was not prepared enough I accept that but I have been told that "this is a performance based company and those are your responsibilities, I can just help you with those". This sentence pissed me off to be honest. I would appreciate your insight about this!

I was going to work at another HQ in a warmer area for health reasons. One week before the relocation, my manager declined it (after already approving it) based on a “bad feeling about it” Unbelievable.

Hey Steve! I wanted to ask about what you think is a "good" or sufficient amount of time an Engineer should spend at a company? I find myself switching employers every 1-2 years because I can get far better benefits and pay. What's your stance on this? What would you think if you were interviewing a candidate such as myself? Thanks in advance!

do we still need managers if company plan to switch to squad model?

Intro felt a bit jarring (just construct criticism still loving the videos). Curious how you handle in team discussions with salary, I feel it maybe easier to distance yourself from those conversations at the principle level but maybe I'm assuming to much. I find my teammates share and disclose salary pay on a one on one time between each other. With the new fluctuations in pay I want people to know their worth and the market but I don't want my boss to have a harder time or get mad at me if we are discussing pay.

Hey Meta. What would you say at a job interview when asked "Why did you quit your last job?" if the reason was a bad manager?

This video shows how hard it is to assess management.

The secret to a great leader is their ability to listen. They can be skilled in every other way, but truly listening to understand their team is rare. I’ve only had 1 boss who truly listened to understand, and made changes for the better. He asked questions and got to the core of what I would ask for. And the “why”. but he moved up and I got a different boss who says “Just do whatever is necessary” in the nicest way but her actions are not effective. Now I’m leaving the company.

Honestly I love this video. It’s been so interesting for me going from engineer to manager in the past few years but I think it helps me that deep inside I’m still an engineer ❤️

Did any of the papers use control groups without managers? This kinda feels like saying Toyota drivers live longer than other drivers. But we never looked at people who walk/bike.

I have a problem with the "productive" wording. I'm currently leaving a company were the "Best developers" according to the managers are also the ones who are most productive. But does this mean they write the best code? the most maintainable code? No not really. In this case we have a team of around 18 people but only 2 to 3 people really work and they perform the best because they keep all the knowledge about the system and how it should work to themselves. So even if you want you cant really outperform them but management does not understand this and is now scared to even let them go because all the knowledge about the system would leave the org too. So is this now a sign of good or bad management? Even everything is buggy and delayed and other people come and go. A feature which should take weeks takes sometimes years to developer but they are stull producing a lot of (fake) productive looking work.

Thanks!

i only want to know from my manager what to do? when is the deadline? how much is the budget? everything else, i take care of

What are the takeaways from this Vdo?

You have just shutdown the whole purpose of Connections 😂 I find it horrible but at times keeping me honest of what the team’s current sentiment. Is it right to take it with a grain of salt?

3 elements that make a great manager ( great anybody really): 1. Authenticity 2. Honesty 3. Effective communication (delivering information that best helps you in completing your tasks) All above amounts to Trust, Predictability, Stability and therefore Performance.

can you make a video on how to be a better programmer or what to learn to be better.

Please make more videos :)

Unless you're applying for a startup, I don't think anybody wants to be told, "You should join because you'll be crucial in turning the team around." Like, bruh, if I wanted a heavy and stressful workload, I'd go to a startup where at least they'll offer me equity for my pain and suffering. I think a good frontline manager makes an effort to remove roadblocks that the team encounters. If I complain about a certain aspect of my job or of another team during my 1-on-1, my manager should think about what they can do about that, since it will allow me to do my job better.

First off, I'm a big fan of your channel, and I get a lot out of it. Secondly, as an SDM, I appreciate this video! It would be nice to have an instruction manual on being a great manager, but, as you said, no one seems to know what that means. My advice for other SDMs is to look out for your team and your company. In that order. If you do right by your devs, they will make you proud.

This was well-balanced Steve...

is this recap of Why Are There So Many Bad Bosses? by Freakonomics?

I worked in Amazon for 7 years, and this guidance to avoid a sinking ship, though accurate, makes for a selfish culture. People should feel they can be successful if they join a team that is sinking, so the business can turn around.

Am a Fan..

Hi Steve. One recommendation with regards to the video itself, consider using a slightly wider frame, which would include your hands as well. This is most likely subjective, but I find that in certain cases, points get across easier when hands, that is, gesticulations are included in the frame, for example like the shot at 05:52. That aside, very interesting topic, thanks for another great video.

best manager keeps people because the people are willing to go back to work. that simple aka enjoy going to work or at least don't hate going to work.

Love the content and the delivery. The editing, specifically the number of cuts, was distracting and disorienting however

Why are managers considered bosses? The idea of a manager somehow remained there from the first industrial revolution, but it really does not apply well in tech. Most managers are pretty much some people who move information in the team. It is ridiculous to pretend that their vision is much better that that of tech leads for example. Personally, I don't ever remember hearing something from the manager that I found so smart, or visionary that nobody thought about before. For me they always were some sort of gossiping protocol who knows how to use jira. When they go on holidays, nothing changes.

What is your Amazon alias ? Wanted to check your profile in phonetool :p

It’s easy to find a bad manager they usually get stuck at the lower mid level.

If your manager is being investigated for abuse and it turns out he was fired from his previous job for abuse...

Good video but I didn’t find it very helpful overall. Here is why. Good vs bad management is subjective and concepts and data may help explain what experience will prove. For example, I just joined a team and my manager sucks. How do I know this? Experience and common sense. A more specific example of why I consider my manager to suck is: I had to let him know I may take a few hours in the morning next week to take care of a family matter. One of the main reasons I joined this team is because it was a flexible PTO meaning you are treated like an adult and just let you team know when you have something to do. Then just get your work done. So what did he say? Pretty much what you expect a crappy inexperienced manager with no idea about the flexible pto and how insensitive he was about my needs. I been a manager too and know when to be inflexible and when to give my team the freedom to decide their time. So moral is, trust your gut, know what you want and don’t settle. If you have to for a pay check then be smart and play along as long as you are ahead of the game. This is true to life in general but this is one case where you can test your commitment to yourself first and then a company.

man i wish i had a great mentor like this guy UGH

What if all the new people are leaving?

May I suggest not playing music behind the whole video. I find the lo-fi hip hop is highly distracting. Having it for an intro is one thing but continuously is another thing. I’m picturing Casey Neistat for instance: he always uses that type of music but as flavor for time lapses and establishing shots and vignettes or whatever but not while he’s talking (I think).

This guy scares me because he’s correct but clearly soulless when it comes to work. I can easily imagine him putting me on a PIP because he didn’t count enough commits in the last three months I’ve worked with him. He worked at Amazon for a really long time, and Amazon has the culture he purports to encourage throughout his videos. It’s all objectively correct for the most part, but it’s very much like a military bootcamp. Those who stick around Amazon are usually good, but have a way with disconnecting from their humanity that can only be found in the military or at Amazon or at some other real engineering org. I just hope that the engineering leaders watching these videos realize that people burn out when they feel like they’re walking on eggshells for too long. It’s good to acknowledge that this is a job, which means you have responsibilities, but it’s bad to disregard the fact that you aren’t a robot and that the company absolutely does not care about you-you can literally drop dead trying to stack up against other managers and engineers, and no one will actually care enough to attend your funeral. While I appreciate the advice given throughout this person’s videos, the undertones continue to cause great concern, because I’ve had significant experiences with such undertones in my professional life. Although I’m doing well for myself, all I posses in terms of memories of the last decade of my career is panic, worry, little time with my family, and regret. All because I knew I was being vetted constantly. No amount of money is worth it. Take care.

Effect of “ adding “ one more engineer isnt force “ multiplying “

I think these survey thing doesn’t work, apps like blind does better job. The amount of SH*t people talks about could be a much better index than regular measurement, but it’s against company policy to scrap such thing :)

After being a manager for sometime, I have realised that there are no good or bad managers. There are only good or bad relationships. Good relationships take time to build. After giving it that time, if you have a good relationship with your manager, awesome! After trying your best if that the relationship is still not good, leave that manager. Career is too short to be reporting to managers that don't show care for your career goals through their actions (not words). Find a manager that is good to you, and then stick with them. Success in career comes from longevity in reporting to same manager who is equally ambitious.

In short the video says, "nobody knows"

old coworkers d hack into my pc illegally, trying to get authorities to help me, they destroy my career and life,

Bad managers can turn a career into a job real quick

I would throw in that you can have the best manager in the world but for a well structured part of the business and it will still be a bad time for the productivity. Talking about useless parts of a business...

You've got a piano and a recording setup and all. You have a kid and also you have this channel. How come Amazon is giving you time for all this but is working all other SEs to the bone? Even though they go on to other FAANG companies and have a great time there?

@A Life Engineered You'd be better off if you left Amazon for another company. You could rise through the ranks faster and make more money.

Great video, terrible title.

As an EM , I feel managers aren't paid well. Managing Up, peers and down and then being able to give tech inputs is exhausting, there will be always some chink in the armor that can get exploited. As Ivan Voroshilin points out, if your upper management doesnt have a vision for your team's future, then its really hard to retain talent, which again is "YOUR" responsibility.

I would like everyone's advice on this. I work as cashier for b&m stores. I was badly verbally abused by my manger and ill treated. I know my challenge 25 and when a customer turns up at my till with no id and underage... I refused the sale as they were underage... I did nothing wrong...but my supervisor went and told my manger ive had a serious incident...and to my horror my manager pulled me aside and began shouting at me....he was not listening to me :-( in done this abruse before on my first few weeks at work where the area manager arranged a meeting... and my manger then apologised. Coming to here and now, I reported the incident to HR and sent my witness statement too alongside the mangers ill treatment to me and other staff too. He also called his hard working staff retards this hurts me so much as the staff work very hard.... and are not retards:-( I have been waiting for HR to contact me and resolved my issue.. instead my letter was passed down to a team leader and no mangers.... this team woman calls me and tried to put words into my mouth to my horror and said i gave in my notice in and told my manger I'm leaving the b&m store. I never gave any written statement or verbally. In my 9 letter page plus and statement I not once wrote about my termination of my contract or mentioned it at all...instead been pleading with them to resolve my issue as the manager has a bad behaviour and reeks of heavy alcohol at work. I have tried to find the directors details to email all letters and the email dialogue from HR today to tell them what's HR has done and my store mangers... I feel betrayed HRhave covered it up consideringi also sent a witness satement too... I am 55 year old and never had an experience such as this its left me mortified. I am very genuine and a lightworker... I heal people and gifted from birth i see people setiny on their their as well as voice writings.... and to experience evil people is a eye opener. Beautiful souls who reads this please give me advice what further I can do. B&M HR have terminated my contractwithout my consent and no reason as to why and have listened to the lies of a branch manager with jeckle and hyde traits...taking into note I did nothing wrong... its was a no id no sale... I couldn't tell acholol to underage but got punished instead of being praised for not selling to underage. He's shouts at you infront of everyone...its very humiliating. He has behaviour problems ;-(