Ask HN: First-time EM, quite lost – what helped you?
First time EM in high tech, promoted 11 months ago after working ~4 years in several technical roles before. I'm excited about the new role, and know I gotta grow into it, but I really need some advice:
- It's complete chaos for me. Days stuffed withh meetings I'm not sure I should be in, other days empty where I sit paralyzed not knowing how to start tackling the strategic things I know I should address. Also, compared to previous roles, I can barely recharge over the weekend, it's like a completely different kind of energy drain.
- One report of mine causes havoc in the department. Very well performing, individually, but at the cost of frustrating whole teams of fellow employees. Can't side completely with one party, need to somehow make sure the conflict doesn't escalate. No idea how to solve this. I have caught myself more than once to "dodge" this issue and hide behind some technical work instead.
Seems like I was not really prepared to transition from IC to EM. I'm willing to spend time and effort to improve, so I read some books and started listening to some podcast, with no big effect so far. Is there anything you can recommend me to get a good hold in the new role?
Thanks! Biggest thing for me was accepting that your job is no longer about writing code — it's about removing blockers for others. Calendar time > coding time was a hard mental shift.