Career Blueprint
Junior Development→Engineering Manager
⏱ 36 months•0 years experience•2 current skills
🧱Phase 1
Foundation
14 months
Skills to Develop
Build credibility through IC excellence first1:1 meeting frameworks & coaching techniquesAgile/Scrum facilitation (beyond ceremonies)Basic people ops (PIP, promotions, leveling)Understand your company's management expectations
Resources
- 📚 The Manager's Path by Camille Fournier
- 📚 Radical Candor by Kim Scott
- 🔨 Shadow an experienced EM for 2+ weeks
- 🎓 Coursera's Introduction to Software Product Management
🏁 Milestone
Complete 6 months as senior IC contributor and conduct 10 practice 1:1 sessions with team members
⚡Phase 2
Execution
12 months
Skills to Develop
Learn to delegate effectivelyRoadmap planning & cross-team coordinationTeam health metrics & engagementHiring & structured interviewingPerformance management & feedback delivery
Resources
- 📚 An Elegant Puzzle by Will Larson
- 🔨 Lead a team through a full planning cycle (quarter/half)
- 📚 High Output Management by Andy Grove
- 👥 Rands Leadership Slack community
🏁 Milestone
Successfully hire 2 engineers and lead quarterly planning for a 5-person team
👑Phase 3
Authority
10 months
Skills to Develop
Organizational design & team topologyExecutive presence & stakeholder managementTechnical debt negotiation with productConflict resolution & mediationEngineering culture & values definition
Resources
- 📚 Team Topologies by Skelton & Pais
- 🔨 Write about engineering management publicly
- 👥 Mentor aspiring engineering managers
- 👥 LeadDev conference talks & community
🏁 Milestone
Design and implement team structure changes affecting 15+ engineers and present engineering strategy to C-level executives
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