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Technical vs non-technical IT managers

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  • M Offline
    M Offline
    MatthysDT
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    As a technical person, do you prefer to report to a technical or non-technical manager? I have had good and bad experiences with both. On the up, I appreciate the freedom and trust extended by good non-technical managers, as well as the guidance from good technical managers. On the down, some non-technical managers try too hard to be involved in the detail and often make bad calls based on their insufficient understanding of a problem or situation. I found that technical managers, on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, really just giving commands, these are often the ones who have the highest staff turnover (among coders) as well. From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths. Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet: SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^] (forwarded to the best part) ...and ask for a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). :laugh: Enjoy!

    L Sander RosselS E M N 17 Replies Last reply
    0
    • M MatthysDT

      As a technical person, do you prefer to report to a technical or non-technical manager? I have had good and bad experiences with both. On the up, I appreciate the freedom and trust extended by good non-technical managers, as well as the guidance from good technical managers. On the down, some non-technical managers try too hard to be involved in the detail and often make bad calls based on their insufficient understanding of a problem or situation. I found that technical managers, on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, really just giving commands, these are often the ones who have the highest staff turnover (among coders) as well. From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths. Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet: SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^] (forwarded to the best part) ...and ask for a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). :laugh: Enjoy!

      L Offline
      L Offline
      Lost User
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      worst are the managers that believe they are technical by preceived right or/and rite.... - previously technical themselves (once were programmers) but not kept themselves updated, - those that come from a different side (i.e once were operators now in charge of software dev) - those that were never technical but have been in the job so long believe they know it all/seen it before the last far too often in small companies - they are a part owner or relative / best friend of an owner... these are the jobs that sound good "warm, friendly company" but 100% dead ends. i.e. if your boss is the owner how can you ever get promoted or even a good increment/bonus [short of marrying the bosses daughter/son].

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      • L Lost User

        worst are the managers that believe they are technical by preceived right or/and rite.... - previously technical themselves (once were programmers) but not kept themselves updated, - those that come from a different side (i.e once were operators now in charge of software dev) - those that were never technical but have been in the job so long believe they know it all/seen it before the last far too often in small companies - they are a part owner or relative / best friend of an owner... these are the jobs that sound good "warm, friendly company" but 100% dead ends. i.e. if your boss is the owner how can you ever get promoted or even a good increment/bonus [short of marrying the bosses daughter/son].

        Message Signature (Click to edit ->)

        W Offline
        W Offline
        W Balboos GHB
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        Here, as the company's gone through some changes in the last year or so, we don't have a non-technical manager making IT decisions . . . . . . we have a gaggle of them that meet and reinforce one-another's decision making ineptitude.

        Ravings en masse^

        "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

        "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

        1 Reply Last reply
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        • M MatthysDT

          As a technical person, do you prefer to report to a technical or non-technical manager? I have had good and bad experiences with both. On the up, I appreciate the freedom and trust extended by good non-technical managers, as well as the guidance from good technical managers. On the down, some non-technical managers try too hard to be involved in the detail and often make bad calls based on their insufficient understanding of a problem or situation. I found that technical managers, on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, really just giving commands, these are often the ones who have the highest staff turnover (among coders) as well. From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths. Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet: SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^] (forwarded to the best part) ...and ask for a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). :laugh: Enjoy!

          Sander RosselS Offline
          Sander RosselS Offline
          Sander Rossel
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          I've worked for some managers who knew programming, but not enough (anymore) to actually participate with the team. Luckily, they understood their knowledge was outdated and they respected my technical superiority. The plus is that they understood that a "small" change could take hours or even days. They also knew how important it was to keep code maintainable and technical debt to a minimum, so you'd get some time to fix that now and then. On occasion I could even ask them for their opinion on some technical problem and they'd come up with good ideas (or at least ideas that sparked the good ideas in me ;p) One of those managers also maintained legacy apps that he once wrote, which was cool, except... He developed and tested on production environments, which wasn't such a big deal as you'd expect, except that I was in charge of keeping databases in sync, which is pretty much impossible if both are ahead of each other :sigh: Of course he kept doing that because he'd "always done it like that." I currently have a non-technical manager (and a non-common sense manager at that) who just threw three extra developers in the team because we had to work faster (I've never got less work done than the past few weeks)... :sigh: The problem, however, was not that we had too few developers, but the constantly changing specs and priorities that he sets X| So yeah, technical managers all the way!

          Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

          M Richard Andrew x64R 2 Replies Last reply
          0
          • M MatthysDT

            As a technical person, do you prefer to report to a technical or non-technical manager? I have had good and bad experiences with both. On the up, I appreciate the freedom and trust extended by good non-technical managers, as well as the guidance from good technical managers. On the down, some non-technical managers try too hard to be involved in the detail and often make bad calls based on their insufficient understanding of a problem or situation. I found that technical managers, on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, really just giving commands, these are often the ones who have the highest staff turnover (among coders) as well. From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths. Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet: SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^] (forwarded to the best part) ...and ask for a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). :laugh: Enjoy!

            Sander RosselS Offline
            Sander RosselS Offline
            Sander Rossel
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            MatthysDT wrote:

            Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet and ask a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. I checked CP to see if someone else already shared this, seems not, but sorry if it's old news. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). Enjoy! -> SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^]

            What the :wtf: :omg: She can barely speak words, let alone sentences, let alone something of value! I guess SARS is what you get when you try to have a conversation with her :laugh:

            Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

            1 Reply Last reply
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            • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

              I've worked for some managers who knew programming, but not enough (anymore) to actually participate with the team. Luckily, they understood their knowledge was outdated and they respected my technical superiority. The plus is that they understood that a "small" change could take hours or even days. They also knew how important it was to keep code maintainable and technical debt to a minimum, so you'd get some time to fix that now and then. On occasion I could even ask them for their opinion on some technical problem and they'd come up with good ideas (or at least ideas that sparked the good ideas in me ;p) One of those managers also maintained legacy apps that he once wrote, which was cool, except... He developed and tested on production environments, which wasn't such a big deal as you'd expect, except that I was in charge of keeping databases in sync, which is pretty much impossible if both are ahead of each other :sigh: Of course he kept doing that because he'd "always done it like that." I currently have a non-technical manager (and a non-common sense manager at that) who just threw three extra developers in the team because we had to work faster (I've never got less work done than the past few weeks)... :sigh: The problem, however, was not that we had too few developers, but the constantly changing specs and priorities that he sets X| So yeah, technical managers all the way!

              Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

              M Offline
              M Offline
              MatthysDT
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              Sander Rossel wrote:

              who just threw three extra developers in the team because we had to work faster

              Been there, work is not getting done fast enough, so they add more developers, juniors at that. Though I don't mind taking-on and onboarding new people, it had the opposite effect and made the team even less productive in the short run.

              R 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                I've worked for some managers who knew programming, but not enough (anymore) to actually participate with the team. Luckily, they understood their knowledge was outdated and they respected my technical superiority. The plus is that they understood that a "small" change could take hours or even days. They also knew how important it was to keep code maintainable and technical debt to a minimum, so you'd get some time to fix that now and then. On occasion I could even ask them for their opinion on some technical problem and they'd come up with good ideas (or at least ideas that sparked the good ideas in me ;p) One of those managers also maintained legacy apps that he once wrote, which was cool, except... He developed and tested on production environments, which wasn't such a big deal as you'd expect, except that I was in charge of keeping databases in sync, which is pretty much impossible if both are ahead of each other :sigh: Of course he kept doing that because he'd "always done it like that." I currently have a non-technical manager (and a non-common sense manager at that) who just threw three extra developers in the team because we had to work faster (I've never got less work done than the past few weeks)... :sigh: The problem, however, was not that we had too few developers, but the constantly changing specs and priorities that he sets X| So yeah, technical managers all the way!

                Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

                Richard Andrew x64R Offline
                Richard Andrew x64R Offline
                Richard Andrew x64
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                Sander Rossel wrote:

                On occasion I could even ask them for their opinion on some technical problem and they'd come up with good ideas (or at least ideas that sparked the good ideas in me ;-P )

                I agree. Even if they are not up to speed on the latest tech, once a developer, always a developer. They still possess the basic skills to understand a problem, break it into steps. I work for a Manager who is also a developer on our team, so he is involved in the day to day. I think it's great! :)

                The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • M MatthysDT

                  As a technical person, do you prefer to report to a technical or non-technical manager? I have had good and bad experiences with both. On the up, I appreciate the freedom and trust extended by good non-technical managers, as well as the guidance from good technical managers. On the down, some non-technical managers try too hard to be involved in the detail and often make bad calls based on their insufficient understanding of a problem or situation. I found that technical managers, on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, really just giving commands, these are often the ones who have the highest staff turnover (among coders) as well. From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths. Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet: SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^] (forwarded to the best part) ...and ask for a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). :laugh: Enjoy!

                  E Offline
                  E Offline
                  Eric Lynch
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  The manager must be technical enough to understand the product. Other than that, I am happy with any decent person who shields the team from politics and process, so they can get the job done. You'd think this would be easy, but its remarkable how infrequently it occurs :)

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • M MatthysDT

                    As a technical person, do you prefer to report to a technical or non-technical manager? I have had good and bad experiences with both. On the up, I appreciate the freedom and trust extended by good non-technical managers, as well as the guidance from good technical managers. On the down, some non-technical managers try too hard to be involved in the detail and often make bad calls based on their insufficient understanding of a problem or situation. I found that technical managers, on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, really just giving commands, these are often the ones who have the highest staff turnover (among coders) as well. From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths. Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet: SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^] (forwarded to the best part) ...and ask for a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). :laugh: Enjoy!

                    M Offline
                    M Offline
                    Marc Clifton
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    MatthysDT wrote:

                    From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths.

                    Exactly. Managers should facilitate communication between the people that are actually doing the work and as Eric said, keep the politics and bean counters at arms length. In my opinion, anyone can be a manager if they have communication skills and the ability to get the problem solvers together. Certainly demands from higher up the food chain (or, if you prefer, lower down in the sewer of the C-level people) need to be communicated to the team, but again, it comes down to communication and letting the people that know the work solve the problems with the given constraints. In other words, a good manager, in my opinion, is a facilitator and a buffer and little else.

                    Latest Article - A Concise Overview of Threads Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802

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                    • M MatthysDT

                      As a technical person, do you prefer to report to a technical or non-technical manager? I have had good and bad experiences with both. On the up, I appreciate the freedom and trust extended by good non-technical managers, as well as the guidance from good technical managers. On the down, some non-technical managers try too hard to be involved in the detail and often make bad calls based on their insufficient understanding of a problem or situation. I found that technical managers, on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, really just giving commands, these are often the ones who have the highest staff turnover (among coders) as well. From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths. Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet: SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^] (forwarded to the best part) ...and ask for a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). :laugh: Enjoy!

                      N Offline
                      N Offline
                      Nelek
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      I don't care if techie or not techie manager. I just like one realistic manager with common sense that knows my technical value, gives me enough freedom to do things the way I consider the best option, feeds me with the relevant information I need to do my job and keeps me free of non sense meetings or moronic people that waste my time.

                      M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • M MatthysDT

                        As a technical person, do you prefer to report to a technical or non-technical manager? I have had good and bad experiences with both. On the up, I appreciate the freedom and trust extended by good non-technical managers, as well as the guidance from good technical managers. On the down, some non-technical managers try too hard to be involved in the detail and often make bad calls based on their insufficient understanding of a problem or situation. I found that technical managers, on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, really just giving commands, these are often the ones who have the highest staff turnover (among coders) as well. From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths. Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet: SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^] (forwarded to the best part) ...and ask for a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). :laugh: Enjoy!

                        L Offline
                        L Offline
                        Lost User
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        Non-technical managers cannot distinguish a database diagram from their sandwich recipe and therefore whenever a decision has to be made with conflicting opinions about a technical issue, they either don't make it or defer to the technical person with the most brown nose. That's a fact. My current job though has a manager that has enough knowledge to make competent decisions. BTW the chaos that non-techie managers create is the major reason for the wave of outsourcing, not the cost.

                        M 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • L Lost User

                          Non-technical managers cannot distinguish a database diagram from their sandwich recipe and therefore whenever a decision has to be made with conflicting opinions about a technical issue, they either don't make it or defer to the technical person with the most brown nose. That's a fact. My current job though has a manager that has enough knowledge to make competent decisions. BTW the chaos that non-techie managers create is the major reason for the wave of outsourcing, not the cost.

                          M Offline
                          M Offline
                          MatthysDT
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Thanks for the laugh!

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • M MatthysDT

                            As a technical person, do you prefer to report to a technical or non-technical manager? I have had good and bad experiences with both. On the up, I appreciate the freedom and trust extended by good non-technical managers, as well as the guidance from good technical managers. On the down, some non-technical managers try too hard to be involved in the detail and often make bad calls based on their insufficient understanding of a problem or situation. I found that technical managers, on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, really just giving commands, these are often the ones who have the highest staff turnover (among coders) as well. From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths. Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet: SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^] (forwarded to the best part) ...and ask for a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). :laugh: Enjoy!

                            V Offline
                            V Offline
                            virang_21
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            After being a developer for almost 10 years I became a manager in a different company. I let the team decide on best course of action to achieve a business objective without getting too involved in minute technical details. At the end of the day business doesn't care if you have used X or Y as long as it functions the way that serves the purpose. Only time I had to intervene was when someone try to over engineer a solution that is going to be irrelevant in next few weeks. Keep the deadline in sight and keep the team happy.

                            Zen and the art of software maintenance : rm -rf * Maths is like love : a simple idea but it can get complicated.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • M MatthysDT

                              As a technical person, do you prefer to report to a technical or non-technical manager? I have had good and bad experiences with both. On the up, I appreciate the freedom and trust extended by good non-technical managers, as well as the guidance from good technical managers. On the down, some non-technical managers try too hard to be involved in the detail and often make bad calls based on their insufficient understanding of a problem or situation. I found that technical managers, on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, really just giving commands, these are often the ones who have the highest staff turnover (among coders) as well. From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths. Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet: SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^] (forwarded to the best part) ...and ask for a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). :laugh: Enjoy!

                              K Offline
                              K Offline
                              kalberts
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              I was working in a group that were growing too large, so it had to be split into three, with separate group leaders, and we were discussing what would be the "ideal" background for a group leader. We found that the ideal would be a person with a formal management training, and preferably some experience, working with us for a year as an apprentice to see what we are really doing, what are our daily problems and issues and mode of work. After one year working at the floor, he would probably be a much better manager, from our point of view, than if he was simply brought in from the street and put in an management position, no matter how good a management education he might have. (No - we did not get what we wanted. The most experienced technical guys advanced to a management position, without really knowing what managment is about.) On the other hand, the sales side: When your customer is technically competent, rather than an end user man-in-the-street, nothing beats having a salesman who can explain how every single bit flows, can make qualified estimates of the work required for customer demands etc. Salesmen who knows all the buzzwords and nothing else are worse than non-technical managers, who at least know something about management.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • M MatthysDT

                                Sander Rossel wrote:

                                who just threw three extra developers in the team because we had to work faster

                                Been there, work is not getting done fast enough, so they add more developers, juniors at that. Though I don't mind taking-on and onboarding new people, it had the opposite effect and made the team even less productive in the short run.

                                R Offline
                                R Offline
                                RobertHarris
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                This is where having a technical manager pays off. Having been promoted from a Senior Engineer position into management I know enough to ask the team what they need to hit a deadline rather than assuming I know. I am also a vocal advocate for the guys that work with me as I know what having a useless manager is like. One of the best things from my point of view though is that the teams that I work with are using a technology stack I am unfamiliar with, so while I can give broad direction or listen to technical discussions and make intelligent comments, I do not feel the need to put my oversized management paws into the code.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • M MatthysDT

                                  As a technical person, do you prefer to report to a technical or non-technical manager? I have had good and bad experiences with both. On the up, I appreciate the freedom and trust extended by good non-technical managers, as well as the guidance from good technical managers. On the down, some non-technical managers try too hard to be involved in the detail and often make bad calls based on their insufficient understanding of a problem or situation. I found that technical managers, on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, really just giving commands, these are often the ones who have the highest staff turnover (among coders) as well. From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths. Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet: SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^] (forwarded to the best part) ...and ask for a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). :laugh: Enjoy!

                                  B Offline
                                  B Offline
                                  BryanFazekas
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  Technical vs. non-technical isn't the factor for me -- it's clued-in vs. clueless. The best manager I had was non-technical, but I didn't know it for 3 months. He educated himself on the technologies so he could speak intelligently, yet relied on in-depth knowledge of others when making decisions. I worked for the guy 3 months before I learned he wasn't technical -- he was sales. The worst manager I had was highly technical, but a PHB. Completely clueless about everything, and relied upon similar people for his 'facts' while dismissing the the folks that actually knew something.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • M MatthysDT

                                    As a technical person, do you prefer to report to a technical or non-technical manager? I have had good and bad experiences with both. On the up, I appreciate the freedom and trust extended by good non-technical managers, as well as the guidance from good technical managers. On the down, some non-technical managers try too hard to be involved in the detail and often make bad calls based on their insufficient understanding of a problem or situation. I found that technical managers, on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, really just giving commands, these are often the ones who have the highest staff turnover (among coders) as well. From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths. Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet: SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^] (forwarded to the best part) ...and ask for a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). :laugh: Enjoy!

                                    D Offline
                                    D Offline
                                    darktrick544
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #17

                                    (Note: this a govt IT dept) My team's immediate manager is completely non-technical, though our director, when hiring him, led us to believe he was very knowledgeable. As it turns out, he is not. At all. I don't think he could use a calculator effectively. It grinds my gears that the status report we are required to update constantly lists him as "manager" on all our projects, and that he makes more $$ than me, the team lead. Amongst ourselves, we refer to him as "meatloaf". Having status meetings with him is an exercise in futility as I have to explain things multiple times and I'm sure he still does not understand anything. I find non-technical managers tend to focus on the idiotic things they can control and grasp, like "some of your people were late punching in this month" (yeah, we punch in/out, like we work at a supermarket). Yeah, OK, they're late. They're also very talented and productive, and turning out excellent work every day, so give it a rest. I guess, in my case, it's not so much meatloaf is non-technical, it's that he's stupid. But, that's the plague of working in government. Sometimes I wonder what the hell is gonna happen here when I'm gone... (edit:grammer)

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                                    • M MatthysDT

                                      As a technical person, do you prefer to report to a technical or non-technical manager? I have had good and bad experiences with both. On the up, I appreciate the freedom and trust extended by good non-technical managers, as well as the guidance from good technical managers. On the down, some non-technical managers try too hard to be involved in the detail and often make bad calls based on their insufficient understanding of a problem or situation. I found that technical managers, on the other hand, can be very authoritarian, really just giving commands, these are often the ones who have the highest staff turnover (among coders) as well. From my experience, I prefer reporting to non-technical managers. I found that the technical know-how and guidance I used to seek from technical seniors is mostly available from any diverse group of peers and juniors, each with unique interests and strengths. Whichever you prefer, I'd like to share this snippet: SARS gives clarity on e-filing collapse - YouTube[^] (forwarded to the best part) ...and ask for a moment of silence for the IT people who work for this company. It's a month-old interview with the "Chief Officer for Digital and IT" of SARS (South Africa's revenue collection services). :laugh: Enjoy!

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                                      MikeTheFid
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      The best bosses I have worked with had genuine humility. And it didn't matter what their level of technical knowledge was. The worst bosses I have worked with were arrogant. And it didn't matter what their level of technical knowledge was.

                                      Cheers, Mike Fidler "I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright "I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright "I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit, but it wouldn't matter." Steven Wright yet again.

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                                      • M MikeTheFid

                                        The best bosses I have worked with had genuine humility. And it didn't matter what their level of technical knowledge was. The worst bosses I have worked with were arrogant. And it didn't matter what their level of technical knowledge was.

                                        Cheers, Mike Fidler "I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright "I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright "I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit, but it wouldn't matter." Steven Wright yet again.

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                                        Jim_Snyder
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        My current manager is both arrogant and uses an authoritarion management style. He neither shields us from outside abuse nor does he do anything to help work efforts. The problem I that I have had is that I have worked for truly worse and keep sticking my neck out. I have had great managers both technical and non-technical and have found that although it may be a factor, it doesn't determine which is the better boss or manager.

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                                        • J Jim_Snyder

                                          My current manager is both arrogant and uses an authoritarion management style. He neither shields us from outside abuse nor does he do anything to help work efforts. The problem I that I have had is that I have worked for truly worse and keep sticking my neck out. I have had great managers both technical and non-technical and have found that although it may be a factor, it doesn't determine which is the better boss or manager.

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                                          MikeTheFid
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #20

                                          Agreed. (I truly hope your current manager doesn't frequent The Lounge. ;) )

                                          Cheers, Mike Fidler "I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright "I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright "I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit, but it wouldn't matter." Steven Wright yet again.

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