Being a great engineer doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be a great engineering manager. So how do you know if a leadership role is right for you? Taylor Poindexter, Software Engineering Manager at Spotify, believes you have to try before you can decide and also know when to walk away.
Taylor started out as a tech lead. She knew she wanted to help people advance their careers, and that passion led her to management. She emphasizes that emotional intelligence and patience are a major part of the role and the signs of an effective leader because people are complex. She talks about some of her personal strengths as a leader and the importance of motivating your team, giving feedback, and taking uncomfortable criticism. Managing people isn’t an easy job, and Taylor’s advice for engineers who realize they don’t love leadership is to walk away before creating an unhappy work culture for your team.
In this episode, Taylor talks to Robbie and Chuck about tech hot takes, building effective engineering cultures, and the challenges and rewards of being an engineering manager.
Key Takeaways
Quotes
[19:32] - “I think I’m really good at motivating people. I think partially because, at the end of the day, they know I’m really honest and trustworthy.” ~ Taylor Poindexter
[20:19] - “The constant iteration of improving things makes the team a good place.” ~ Taylor Poindexter
[23:03] - “I realized that it was so important to me to give somebody else an enhanced career in whatever way I could.” ~ Taylor Poindexter
Links
Connect with our hosts
Subscribe and stay in touch
Top-Tier, Full-Stack Software Consultants
This show is brought to you by Ship Shape. Ship Shape’s software consultants solve complex software and app development problems with top-tier coding expertise, superior service, and speed. In a sea of choices, our senior-level development crew rises above the rest by delivering the best solutions for fintech, cybersecurity, and other fast-growing industries. Check us out at shipshape.io.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/whiskey-web-and-whatnot/messageHTML Accessibility, Package Managers, and the Whiskey Web and Whatnot NFT
Tech Rants, Supporting Open Source, and Great TV Shows
Web Frameworks, the Launch of Astro 1.0, and National Parks with Nate Moore
A11y Hour with Mark Steadman
Conventional Commits vs. Release-It and Chatting About the Changelog
Emerging Tech, a Resource Renaissance, and Embracing Ember with Preston Sego
A11y Hour with Eric Bailey
Developing Orbit and the Future of Cross Framework Solutions with Dan Gebhardt
Matt Johnson: When Web3 Is Worth It and Learning to Lead
Polaris, Starbeam, and the Future of Ember with Godfrey Chan
Reacting to React, WWDC22, and Bun.sh
A Battle of Two Worlds and Mentorship Above Milestones with Cory Brown
A Framework for Ember TypeScript with James C. Davis
Mystery Maker's Monday, Testing, and GraphQL
Leading From the Top, Creating a Community, and Balancing It All with Tracy Lee
Bringing Types to Ember with Chris Krycho
Are Monorepos and NFTs Worth It?
Getting Lost in Git and Goodbye tsc
Developing as a Developer, Appreciating Workers, and Navigating Framework Wars with Chris Garrett
Prioritizing Performance and the Future of the Terminal with Zach Lloyd
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Insight Story: Tech Trends Unpacked
Zero-Shot
Fast Forward by Tomorrow Unlocked: Tech past, tech future
The Unbelivable Truth - Series 1 - 26 including specials and pilot
Lex Fridman Podcast