Engineering Management vs Individual Contributor, Travel, and Inflation with Taylor Poindexter

Nov 9, 2023

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Being a great engineer doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be a great engineering manager. So how do you know if a leadership role is right for you? Taylor Poindexter, Software Engineering Manager at Spotify, believes you have to try before you can decide and also know when to walk away.

Taylor started out as a tech lead. She knew she wanted to help people advance their careers, and that passion led her to management. She emphasizes that emotional intelligence and patience are a major part of the role and the signs of an effective leader because people are complex. She talks about some of her personal strengths as a leader and the importance of motivating your team, giving feedback, and taking uncomfortable criticism. Managing people isn’t an easy job, and Taylor’s advice for engineers who realize they don’t love leadership is to walk away before creating an unhappy work culture for your team.

In this episode, Taylor talks to Robbie and Chuck about tech hot takes, building effective engineering cultures, and the challenges and rewards of being an engineering manager.

Key Takeaways

[00:50] - Introduction to Taylor Poindexter.
[02:38] - A whiskey review: Barrel Private Release DJX2.
[12:19] - Tech hot takes.
[18:32] - Taylor talks about her skills as an engineer and manager.
[22:26] - Taylor’s advice for a developer who isn’t sure they want to be a manager.
[27:41] - Types of employees managed by Taylor.
[35:01] - Taylor unpacks her tweet about food spending.
[42:15] - Chuck, Robbie, and Taylor talk about the subscription model.
[45:10] - If Taylor wasn’t in tech, what career would she choose?
[48:32] - Chuck talks about his trip to France.

Quotes

[19:32] - “I think I’m really good at motivating people. I think partially because, at the end of the day, they know I’m really honest and trustworthy.” ~ Taylor Poindexter

[20:19] - “The constant iteration of improving things makes the team a good place.” ~ Taylor Poindexter

[23:03] - “I realized that it was so important to me to give somebody else an enhanced career in whatever way I could.” ~ Taylor Poindexter

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