Management Track or Technical Track?
Does the thought of management make you cringe? Would you prefer to stay on the technical track? The Public Speaker explains how to positively position your desire for advancement while still doing what you love.
Lisa B. Marshall
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Management Track or Technical Track?
I recently received a question from Gary, a longtime listener of The Public Speaker podcast:
“I just listened to your podcast episode about icebreaker interview questions and it brought up something I’ve been wondering. I’m not on the interviewer side, but the interviewee side. (Well, not right now; I’m happy with my job, but hypothetically.) One of the questions you mentioned was about future plans, basically wanting to see what the applicant’s ambition was, or that they had ambition.
Here’s my question: I never, ever want to be the boss. I don’t want to be in meetings 8 hours per day. I don’t want to do budgets, schedule people’s workload, or get away from what I truly enjoy doing, which is hands-on coding (I’m a computer programmer). I’m also of an age where most people who are my age want just that, and I think it has shot me in the foot in a couple of past interviews when I just plain-out said that I wasn’t interested in being anything other than a developer. (Luckily, that did not affect my current employer wanting to hire me.) I know this limits my options, but doing something I literally loathe would limit my options, too. What do you think?”.
First—Gary, I recognize your name from almost 7 years ago, when I first started doing The Public Speaker podcast. Thank you for sticking with the show for so many years and thanks for sending in your question.
Peter Principle
My father was an engineer and my brother is a coding geek—a developer like you. They both faced similar issues. Neither viewed progression into senior management as a viable career track for themselves. In fact, I remember my father talking about “The Peter Principle” (you can Google it if you haven’t heard of it).
He used to say that many technical people continue getting promoted until they ultimately reach their level of incompetence! He didn’t want any part of that and remained an electrical engineer at RCA from graduation to retirement.
In fact, I still remember him (and my mother) agonizing about the decision to remain an engineer, knowing that he had little hope of a pay increase in the years to come. He had already hit the top of the pay band for the highest level technical role.
As a result, he was not able to earn as much as some of his colleagues who chose to travel the management track. However, in exchange, he had a relatively stress-free job that he really enjoyed and that allowed him to be home every night for dinner at 5:15pm (that is, until he was placed on a project that required high-level government clearance—but that’s a whole other story!)
Today, particularly for technical professionals (IT, biology, chemistry, etc.), this is a common conundrum—a senior, technical professional is faced with the decision of whether or not to choose the management track (even though he or she may prefer to remain technical) because it is viewed as the next (and only) level for advancement.
To be clear, some organizations do offer a technical track that parallels a management track. Usually, the highest level, “purely technical” role earns about as much or slightly more than a first level manager. However, it is often hard to find a company that awards senior technical professionals a comparable salary to any mid or upper level management. Although, depending on the functional role, there are some positions that remain significantly technical and also require management skills—these generally earn more and are much closer in pay.
So what should Gary do?…..
Find the Right Company
My advice is to use LinkedIn and look at job titles and roles to determine if the organization where you want to work has a robust technical track for advancement. If they
do, then it is certainly easy within that type of organization to “come clean” about your desire to remain hands-on technical. Within that type of culture, your desire to remain technical will likely not be viewed as lacking ambition, but instead, viewed positively.
See also: 5 Worst LinkedIn Mistakes You Can Make
The trouble arises in organizations where there isn’t a technical track for advancement. In this case, I still don’t think it’s a bad idea to come clean with your boss about your goals and desires. Ultimately, I suppose in either scenario, it’s important to use smart talk. For me, smart talk is not just saying things right, but rather saying just the right things.
In your case, smart talk is about positioning your desire to remain technical in a positive frame. That is, express your desire to remain technical as an ambitious choice—you may say that you not only want to remain technical, but also to be a thought leader. Make it known that you want to be the best techie you can possibly be—the most up-to-date, the brightest, and the fastest.
The message should not be framed by what you don’t want. Steer clear of saying that you don’t want to manage people or deal with budgets and schedules. Keep your message positive!
Explain how you want to be the sought after expert within your company and perhaps even within the industry. State your goals to be the technical expert for all of the company’s most important projects. Communicate a desire to actively participate in leading the technical direction of the company—even become a spokesperson at conferences to represent the technical savvy of the company.
Of course, this is much more likely happen at a company where technology is core to the business. So, again, choose companies to interview where this sort of ambition is possible.
We spend a considerable amount of our time working and that means we should be doing something that we enjoy. I believe it is important to love what you do and to feel valued for your hard work. If you don’t enjoy management, then it is important to find a place that values technical achievement. In my view, if you are passed over because you desire a purely technical role, well, then that company likely isn’t a good fit for you anyway. Hold out for something better.
I believe that success happens when your personal values and the values of your company are in alignment. Gary, you are right. Your options may be limited, but with the positive positioning, it’s likely you will find more opportunities for technical advancement.
This is Lisa B. Marshall, Helping you maximize sales, manage perceptions, and enhance leadership through keynotes, workshops, books, and online courses. Passionate about communication; your success is my business.
If you want even more success in your life, I invite you to read my latest book, Smart Talk, and listen to my other podcast, Smart Talk: Inspiring Conversations with Exceptional People.
Code and Technology Careers images via Shutterstock.
About the Author
Lisa B. Marshall Lisa holds masters with duel degrees in interpersonal/intercultural communication and organizational communication. She’s the author of Smart Talk: The Public Speaker’s Guide to Success in Every Situation, as well as Ace Your Interview, Powerful Presenter, and Expert Presenter. Her work has been featured in CBS Money Watch, Ragan.com, Woman’s Day, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and many others. Her institutional clients include Johns Hopkins Medicine, Harvard University, NY Academy of Science, University of Pennsylvania, Genentech, and Roche.