Struggling between the comfort of an individual contributor (IC) role and the desire to move into software engineering leadership? It’s a tough fork in the road that many engineers face. The idea of stepping away from hands-on technical work to move into leadership requires mastering new skills, stepping into the spotlight, and strategic thinking. It feels like a major departure from their comfort zone of code development, testing, and debugging. But the truth is, growth happens outside the comfort zone.
Any software engineer can successfully move into leadership with the right preparation, transition, resources, and skills development.
Assess Leadership Readiness
It’s one of the toughest career jumps to make—moving from individual contributor roles to director or managerial leadership. It’s completely common for the “Am I ready to lead?” thought to come with anxiety and doubt. Sometimes, people are comfortable with their current job responsibilities. Maybe a manager often presents to executive leadership, and an individual contributor is used to sitting on the sidelines.
Remember that leadership isn’t about being perfect or having all the answers; it’s about driving change, influencing others, navigating ambiguity confidently, and making a bigger impact. Even if someone doesn’t feel extremely ready, it may be the time. It could also be a less dramatic change than expected. For example, a senior software engineer could make the transition to engineering manager, or a quality assurance manager could move into a team lead role.
Here are some practical examples of IC experience that correlate nicely with leadership:
Lead cross-functional teams.
Complete complex projects with little oversight.
Mentor a junior engineer.
Feel energized by the thought of presenting, speaking in front of people, and working with executives.
... continue reading