Alex Ponomarev (Page 17)

22 Nov 2023 · 5 min read

Dealing With Power Dynamics and Work Politics as an Engineering Manager

There’s this rush of excitement when you land that engineering manager promotion. After dedicating night after night towards this goal, your hard work finally pays dividends. But as the

21 Nov 2023 · 5 min read

Progress Reporting that Doesn’t Feel Tedious

Imagine a situation. You’re an engineering manager leading a capable development team. You feel you have well-planned the project with clear milestones. However, some things are not going

20 Nov 2023 · 4 min read

Time Tracking: Friend or Foe of Engineering Productivity?

Imagine you’re an engineering manager at a tech startup overseeing a fully remote team of developers. Features are being delivered behind schedule, littered with bugs. Your developers are taking

18 Nov 2023 · 5 min read

Managing Engineers: How to Avoid Losing Your Tech Edge

You sit at the desk of your home office with a fresh cup of coffee, ready to start your first day as an engineering manager. You worked hard to earn

17 Nov 2023 · 5 min read

Managing Engineers: How to Avoid Losing Your Tech Edge

You sit at the desk of your home office with a fresh cup of coffee, ready to start your first day as an engineering manager. You worked hard to earn

16 Nov 2023 · 5 min read

Engineering Manager Skills 101: Communication, Delegation, Strategy

Making the leap from engineer to manager is overwhelming. Believe me, I’ve been there! One day, you’re an expert capable of solving the most complex problems, and the

15 Nov 2023 · 5 min read

Moving Up as an Engineer: Should You Become a Manager?

Business Insider reports that OpenAI is actively recruiting top talent from Google and Meta, offering compensation packages worth millions of dollars to entice some of the best researchers. The company

14 Nov 2023 · 4 min read

Shortening Lead Times: A Data-Driven Approach

As an engineering manager, I’m constantly trying to wrap my head around how hard it is to estimate software timelines. No matter how we try, things end up taking

13 Nov 2023 · 4 min read

Autonomy vs. Alignment: The Engineering Balancing Act

When an engineering manager is too hands-off, giving excessive autonomy to the team, it creates misalignment and frustration for everyone involved. The Pitfalls of Excessive Autonomy Imagine an engineering

12 Nov 2023 · 5 min read

When Skill and Will Don’t Match: Fixing Performance Gaps With PIP

One of the toughest parts of being an engineering manager is dealing with poor performance. When I started, I needed days to prepare for the hard conversations and calm down

11 Nov 2023 · 4 min read

Thriving as an Engineering Manager in a New Company

Joining a new company is like setting sail on an uncharted sea — it’s thrilling but makes your heart race a bit faster, especially when you’re just stepping into

10 Nov 2023 · 4 min read

Pinecone vs. Conventional Databases for GenAI: Old vs New Decision

I see an interesting challenge for engineering managers — making the old vs new decisions. There’s always a flexible and well-known way of solving virtually any problem that senior

9 Nov 2023 · 5 min read

From Engineer to Manager: Learning to Organize Yourself

Transitioning to an engineering management role is tough for many reasons. One of the biggest reasons is different expectations — no one will tell you what to do now. You may

8 Nov 2023 · 5 min read

Coding as a Manager: Walking a Thin Line

When you’re an engineering manager in a small team, you often find yourself in a frustrating situation — you still write code while performing your engineering duties. At first, it

7 Nov 2023 · 4 min read

Why OpenAI’s New Features Aren’t that Exciting for Developers

I had mixed feelings watching the OpenAI DevDay opening keynote yesterday. Sam Altman had a contagious enthusiasm as he unveiled the new features. When the GPTs demo texted him live

6 Nov 2023 · 4 min read

The Bittersweet Reality of Wearing the Leadership Hat as an Ex-Coder

The story of an engineer promoted to a manager is the same for many people. When you join the team, you’re excited about the work you are doing. Other

5 Nov 2023 · 5 min read

The Key to Your Purpose as an Engineering Manager: Andy Grove’s Formula

When I just started in the role of an engineering manager, I was struggling to transition from coding myself to supporting my team. It felt impossible to know for sure

4 Nov 2023 · 5 min read

When Your Boss Doesn’t Trust You Enough to Let Go of the Reins

Recently, I found a story in a Reddit post from the ITManagers subreddit that I can relate to. The post described a manager struggling to manage up effectively. He worked