Being a manager with technical skills
Posted by Ian Holsman
So when I finished up working at the bank nearly a year ago, one of the discussions I had with my manager at the time was about the new position.
one of his remarks was that a manager you would (and should) lose your technical skills, and he was quite proud on how he has lost his (yes he was a PHB). I compared this to google’s management technical recruitment process (and AOL has also moved this way in my division) that you NEED to be technically advanced in your area in order to succeed.
now obviously the first thought was AOL and google rely on technical skills to succeed and as such they need their managers
to at understand what is going on, but to be honest so do banks. (different areas of technology, but skills none the less).
So my thought for the moment is: are we as an industry moving to where large corporates require management to be have technical knowledge, or are internet companies just exceptions to the rule?
For me, having technical knowledge and advancement is really helpful. Because I think an employee without it is not improving well so, therefore will not be succeed.
Technical skills are a must for any industry. It’s the basis of one’s foundation of what to do in a company. Internet companies are not,and should not be exception. How else can you manage well if you know nothing of what you manage and have to rely on others?