One year ago today, I started my first leadership position.
If you're thinking about becoming a manager: I won't tell you to do it. I'll tell you what to ask yourself first.
My honest summary after 365 days is this: the challenges are different from anything I knew as an engineer. And I like the job.
1. Do you like working with people — and keeping things running behind the scenes?
Most of my work this year was invisible: preparing meetings and workshops, prioritizing, defining goals. One feedback I received that stayed with me: things run smoothly because of work nobody sees.
And some conversations this year were harder than any technical problem I've solved.
2. Can you shut down from work?
I couldn't always. I had sleepless nights this year — waking up and not being able to stop thinking about a work topic. Not resting well is exhausting. I'm still learning this one.
3. Can you accept doing less technical work?
Your hands-on work will dramatically decrease. You're there to make sure others can work well. For someone who became a leader because of loving the technical work, this might be the hardest question of the three.
One year in, I am still learning most days.
If you made the move into leadership — which of these three was hardest for you?
This is part of my "100 Days of Year One" series. Follow along as I share what I've learned in my first year as Head of Data and Cloud.