First-time Manager
Being a manager for the first time is weird. Don't get me wrong - depending on your motivation, you can fill this feeling of accomplishment because you finally got this position, or maybe you've become a manager unexpectedly because your ex-manager left the company.
My story is a mix of both. The first time I became a manager was just a pure story of climbing the career ladder. When the chance came to trade my mechanical keyboard clatter for a seat at the leadership table, I jumped. Two horrible years of being lost, and I am back to my IC role again.
My second journey was similar. The company was undergoing a reorganization and needed a manager, and at that time, I decided that I was finally ready. So, I can't say that I was fighting for this position, but I saw an opportunity, I took it, and that time, I was happy. However, in a year, I relocated to the US back to the IC seat just because there were no opportunities, and I needed a job to build my life in a new country.
But my last time, which I consider my final transformation from IC to a manager, I needed to earn it. Going from senior engineer to Engineering Manager in almost three years was not the most fun journey, but it was very satisfactory in the end.
Anyway, as a new manager, you start feeling different in a couple of days or weeks. Oren Ellenbogen, author of "Leading Snowflakes," uses the word "Alone." Gergely Orosz from The Pragmatic Engineer uses the word "Lonely." If I were to reflect on my experience, I would go with the word "Lost." It doesn't sound fun, and it is actually very not.
