The success of an engineer transitioning into management depends on two things: their skillset and the environment. Skillset refers to the engineer’s potential managerial abilities. The environment is their direct reports, the business domain, the tech stack, the stakeholders, and more importantly: you as their manager. As a manager of managers, you’re not just a tourist on a new manager’s journey. Early on, you must be their sherpa.

Later, you can retreat back to coordinate from the mountain’s basecamp. This talk goes alongside an engineer’s thrilling climb of the managerial mountain full of traps, rough edges and tall precipices.