The best frontline eng managers in the world are the ones that are never more than 2-3 years removed from hands-on work, full time down in the trenches. The best individual contributors are the ones who have done time in management.

And the best technical leaders in the world are often the ones who do both. Back and forth. Like a pendulum.

Long term, I believe that your career will be largely defined by getting lucky and the rate at which you learn. I have no advice about luck, but to speed up learning I have two suggestions: work at a rapidly expanding company, and make your peers your first team.

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of big-company HR practices.

Dave Kellogg on managers, directors and VPs.

• Managers are paid to drive results with some support.
• Directors are paid to drive results with little or no supervision (“set and forget”).
• VPs are paid to make the plan.