I want to write an engineering manager readme.txt, but I think it’s more appropriately called a Pull Request (PR) description since I will be “merged” into a new organization. Here's my PR - well, tongue in cheek as it doesn't follow any good PR description practices.
As much as I’d like to claim I’m born and raised in Vancouver, I spent a significant part of my childhood in Hong Kong. As such, I can speak Cantonese, Mandarin, and a dialect called Taishanese. Over the years I have also picked up French and Japanese, though I'm not good with them. Why am I sharing this?
When I learned all these languages, I wasn't thinking that one day I would become an engineering manager.
Knowing multiple languages actually helps in surprising ways - you learn how to express the same ideas in different ways, and this is not just important for sharing thoughts and knowledge with the team members but also with leaders in other functional areas. Philosophically, being polyglot also forms my belief that people management should be “personal”, one cannot apply the same management style to everyone on the team - you have to “speak” the right “language” to motivate and support each individual.
I went to Simon Fraser University in Burnaby British Columbia for my CS degree. I’m a nerd and during university years I was fortunate enough to be able to focus my energy in studying. I received a Governor General’s Silver Medal in Academics. I don't think I'm particularly smart, but I do have good work ethics.
Likewise, I appreciate efforts others put in towards their projects professionally. I'm not suggesting putting in more work hours than one is compensated for. However, in order to gain mastery in an area, I believe it takes time. People who care about their craft, their product and the organization they work for, in general, behave very differently - they share ideas that are thoughtful, they produce work that delight, and they progress well in their career accordingly.
While throughout my career I've always taken on software development roles (either as an individual contributor or a leader), I have worked in a handful of different industries and disciplines.
15 years ago I worked on biomedical imaging, when it was a relatively new field. And at Electronic Arts, I worked on gameplay and animation for various console game titles, including FIFA. And at Apple, I worked on MS Office compatibility and icloud.com. In the last 7 years, I worked at a company called Visier. Visier is a SaaS People Analytics company, and the platform provides data driven insights to different aspects of a workforce - from recruiting to compensation, or performance management and turnover.
I believe it’s crucial to stay curious and keep learning. The social media and marketing space is yet another new area to me. I look forward to having a deeper understanding of the users, their pain points, and how to help them with their businesses.
I value the diversity of thoughts and appreciate inputs from individuals from different disciplines. I learned from my experience the importance of bringing unique perspectives to the table and I don’t want to be “the smartest person in the room”. Having the right tools and environment
I’m not a big fan of doing the same tasks multiple times, and that’s what got me into programming in the first place. At a young age, instead of practising pianos like my parents asked me to, I wrote code to have the computer play the music. This focus on efficiency and automation carries through into my professional life. I believe having the right tools and processes is the first step in running a high performing team - saving the teams 20% time is the difference between working all weekends every weekend and working reasonable hours. Reducing toil and improving development experience are two areas that I believe worth investing in, and they often pay good dividends right away.
I believe in servant leadership, and I believe leaders should “eat last”. I’m committed to be available and responsive to the teams I lead. I aim to create a motivating environment where team members can find autonomy with their time, mastery of their craft, and purpose for their work.
I come to meetings prepared, and I demonstrate efforts and due diligence were put into my work. I’m curious what others have to say and I’m willing to share ideas openly. I hope you will reciprocate when we have the chance to work together and interact. Thank you for reading this “Pull Request”!