Let’s be honest—giving feedback to your VP, CTO, or director can feel like walking a tightrope. You’re paid to have a point of view. You’re expected to flag concerns. But the moment your tone feels off or your message lacks clarity, it can backfire. No one wants to work with the person who sounds like […]
One of the fastest ways to stall out in your engineering leadership journey is by failing to manage up. I’m not talking about sucking up or nodding along in meetings like a bobblehead. I’m talking about being the kind of person your VP or CTO can rely on—someone who brings clarity, drives solutions, and actually
Hiring is never easy—especially when the role demands a mix of technologies and a rare combo of skills, attitude, and flexibility. We had one of those roles recently. The person needed to be comfortable jumping between Docker, VMware, Linux, Windows—you name it. It wasn’t a deep-specialist role. It was a “get thrown in the deep
This is one of those questions that everyone seems to have a different answer for. Some leaders keep it all business, all the time—no personal connection, no warmth, no gray area. Others go the opposite direction. They want to be friends, hang out, be the “cool boss.” But I think there’s a better path somewhere
You want to do a cross-team or inter-team project. Cool. Let’s talk about how to do it without watching the whole thing fall apart. First things first—you need a clear owner on your team. Not just a general “our team will take care of that.” Someone needs to take accountability for your side of the
There’s a common mistake I see new engineering leaders make—especially those who’ve had success before. They show up to a new team, armed with something that worked at a previous company or with a different crew. And because it worked before, they assume it’s gold. It must work here too, right? But the truth is:
Why leadership isn’t about having answers—it’s about asking the right questions Leadership often feels like it should be about clarity. Having the answers. Pointing the way forward. But in reality, the best leaders are the ones who pause long enough to ask the right questions. Especially when everyone else is charging ahead. Whether you’re in
The hidden power of a fresh perspective—no matter how smart your team is. Ever stare at a bug for hours, only for a teammate to glance at it and go, “Oh, you missed a semicolon”? That moment right there—that’s the power of a fresh set of eyes. It happens at the micro level (a tricky
One of the fastest ways to accelerate your career in tech is simple to say but hard to master: build trust with the people above you. Whether you’re a tech lead, engineering manager, or aspiring staff engineer, your ability to manage up is just as important as managing your team. When your manager knows they
If you want to be happy in leadership—and help your team thrive—learn to set expectations and match them. That’s it. That’s the formula. It’s not glamorous, but it works. And most leaders either skip it entirely or do it halfway. When you set expectations too high or unrealistic, you create anxiety and burnout. When you