Can you learn how to play the guitar on your own?
Yes, and…
- It will take a very long time
- You might not know that you miss playing techniques
- You might not know more efficient and easy ways
- You will make mistakes (on the positive side, feedback is immediate)
- You might miss terminology and communication
- No one will give you feedback on what and how to improve
- You won’t reach your full potential, won’t sound as good as you can
- You will miss the mental support
Reading books and watching videos are sure to help with some of these issues, but with the abundance of resources and information, they’d still lack personal guidance and immediate feedback.
Playing together with friends would definitely help if they have the patience and devotion. This is close to having a teacher.
Can you learn how to be a software engineer on your own?
Yes, and…
Think of only a small subset of what engineers do:
algorithms, data structures, networks, infrastructure, unit tests, TDD, debugging, CI/CD, observability, computational efficiency, design patterns, architectures, languages, frameworks, paradigms…
- It will take a very long time
- You might not know that you miss techniques and methodologies
- You might not know more efficient and easy ways
- You will make mistakes (at least feedback is fast)
- You might miss terminology and communication
- No one will give you feedback on what and how to improve
- You won’t reach your full potential, won’t sound as good as you can
- You will miss the mental support
Reading books and watching videos is probably mandatory to grow as an engineer, but with the abundance of resources and information, they’d still lack personal guidance and immediate feedback.
When working in a team or on open source with others, additional learnings come into play such as emphasis on making a business impact, communicating, working in a team and receiving feedback.
Can you learn how to be a manager on your own?
Yes, and…
- It will take a very long time
- You might not know that you miss management techniques
- You might not know more efficient and easy ways
- You will make mistakes (feedback is slow) which are costly, as they influence the whole team and might cause undesired attrition
- You might miss terminology and communication
- Not likely to get feedback on what and how to improve
- You won’t reach your full potential, sustainably getting the desired results
- You will miss the mental support, wondering how you’re doing
Reading books, listening to podcasts and watching videos is extremely helpful, but with the abundance of resources and information, including some really bad advice, they’d still lack personal guidance and timely feedback. It is also common to not receive timely feedback from the manager.
Despite recognizing that management is a profession, we know the default scenario – a high-performing engineer is transitioned into management without preparation, training and guidance, hoping things will go well. Well, hope is not a method.
The faster and more effective way
Real-world practice is the greatest teacher. One cannot learn how to swim from books or lectures. One has to get in the water and practice. But preparing will make things a lot easier.
Invest in learning, at least the basics. This can be beneficial also for experienced managers because usually they imitate their own managers who also never got useful training.
- Check with your manager whether they can coach you. That means that either they are the trainer, meaning, they transfer the skills to you, or they only facilitate this process, which is mostly done by you
- Attend training for new managers at work. E.g., Google has an extensive one
- Join a group of peers at work that support and help each other
- A limited-time external trainer, coach or consultant
Leave a Reply