What to Expect from Your Manager

I’m excited to share this guest post from Jim Amos , who recently joined me for a LinkedIn Live. His insights on what to expect from your manager are invaluable for software engineers at any stage in their career.

If you’ve ever worked with a great (or not-so-great) manager, you know how much they can influence your daily mindset and long-term career goals. But here’s the thing: managers aren’t mind readers. If you want their support, it’s crucial to communicate your expectations. Jim’s advice will help you navigate those conversations effectively.

Software engineering managers have many expectations regarding how their new hires will perform and conduct themselves on the team. But conversely, what expectations should an individual contributor have about their manager? Let’s explore some of the most important considerations as well as some that may not be so obvious.

Your first 1:1

First and foremost, if you’re a Software Engineer starting a new role, your manager should meet with you as soon as possible after your start date. You’ll probably have a day or two of HR onboarding and lots of documents to sign, but once that is all completed you’ll ideally receive an invite from your manager to have your first 1:1 meeting. During this first meeting, you should expect:

• A warm welcome to the team and the organization! (If this doesn’t happen, this could be a warning sign of a less-than-friendly office culture or a very distracted manager)
• Space for you to ask any questions that you have.
• A clear plan for the first few days, backed up with a document that outlines any important dates and milestone expectations, eg “Set up your local development environment, including SSH keys to production by EOD on day two. Merge your first minor changeset to the main branch and complete a successful deploy by EOD on day three. Meet with every other developer on the team by the end of the first week.”
• Clear instructions on what software you need and ideally a contact in the IT department who will be working with you to get everything configured properly.
• Ideally, you will be assigned an “onboarding buddy.” If not, consider asking for one. It’ll be worth it.
• Links or email attachments containing any relevant team documentation that you can read through during the first few days. Eg:
• An outline of what will be expected of you in the first few days, thirty days, and maybe some perspective on what’s expected through the first ninety days.
• A summary of the overall team process: will you be employing traditional two-week agile sprints, Kanban, Lean, or something else? Does your team have a dedicated scrum master or is this the responsibility of the Engineering Manager? You may need to ask specific questions about this.

While you’re meeting 1:1 with your manager, they should give you their undivided attention. The manager should be speaking slowly and carefully and not bombarding you with too much information or using a lot of industry terms or esoteric company nicknames for processes or people that you don’t know yet. Don’t be afraid to ask them to slow down, repeat, or clarify something they’ve said if you feel like it didn’t register with you.

?? Want the full story? Read this week’s Besides Code here:

https://www.besidescode.com/p/what-to-expect-from-your-manager