►
Description
The GitLab L&D team, Darva (Senior Manager of Engineering - Create), and Sid (GitLab CEO and co-founder) discuss transitioning from Individual Contributor to a Manager for Engineers. The discussion can be applied to all functions throughout GitLab.
Learn more about transitioning from Individual Contributor to a Manager: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/development/dev/create/engineers/training/ic-to-manager/
A
A
Now
the
page
that
we're
going
to
dive
into
today
was
created
specifically
for
the
engineering
organization,
but
many
of
the
lessons
can
be
applied
to
other
functions
within
gitlab,
and
you
know,
moving
from
an
iec
to
a
management
role
requires
a
different
set
of
skills
and
attributes.
You
know
it's
one
thing
to
be
really
good
functionally,
but
to
move
into
management
requires
an
ic
to
evolve
their
people
management
skill
set.
So
today
we're
going
to
talk
about
why
the
page
was
created.
How
do
you
know
if
the
management
track
is
right
for
you?
A
A
B
A
B
All
right
I'll
take
that
one
first.
So
for
me
personally,
I
had
opinions
that
some
of
the
other
engineers
didn't
have.
I
had
an
opinion
on
how
we
had
source
control
and
which
source
control
technologies
we
used
or
whether
or
not
we
should
use
automated
testing
or
whether
or
not
a
certain
technology
was
the
right
fit,
but
because
I
was
an
ic
I
didn't
often
in
other
companies
not
get
lab.
I
didn't
often
have
an
opportunity
to
to
have
a
say
so
to
have
a
vote,
so
I
just
noticed
that
coding
was
easy.
B
For
me,
it
wasn't
as
challenging,
but
people
and
processes
were
a
lot
more
intriguing.
So
that's
why
I
decided
to
finally
make
that
leap
and
it
did
take
a
while.
I
was
afraid
of
leaving
code
because
that's
all
I
had
known
and
it
was
predictable
and
people
were
not.
They
were
harder
and
their
harder
conversations.
A
Yeah,
the
the
feed,
the
feedback
cycle
definitely
increases
when
you
assume
a
people,
management
role
and-
and
you
know
darvo
to
your
first
point-
you
mentioned
that
you
had
a
lot
of
direct
reports
coming
to
you.
You
know
asking
about.
You
know
what
it
takes
to
become
a
manager
and
I'm
into
a
management
role.
So
how
do
you?
How
would
you
coach
somebody
to
see
if
management
is
is
right
for
them
during
one
to
ones.
B
So
one
of
my
first
questions,
usually
is:
why
do
you
want
to
become
a
manager
and
what
I'm
looking
for
is?
I
want
a
bigger
impact.
What
I'm
not
looking
for
is.
I
want
more
money
right
at
gitlab.
Luckily,
we
have
two
packs,
so
in
a
lot
of
companies,
the
only
way
to
be
promoted
or
to
make
more
money
is
to
become
a
manager.
But
here
we
have
two
paths.
B
I
would
also
recommend
that
they
talk
to
people
who
have
recently
been
promoted
from
an
iec
to
an
engineering
manager
and
maybe
ask
a
lot
of
questions
that
maybe
that
they
have,
and
I
would
also
ask
them
to
take
on
managerial
tasks,
so
you're
kind
of
dipping
your
toe
into
the
pool,
but
not
totally,
jumping
in
and
again
seeing
how
they
felt.
Do
you
like
it,
because
sometimes
you
know
they
might
come
back
and
say
no.
I
really
want
to
stay
more
technical,
so
those
are
just
to
keep
things.
B
And
one
more
thing
I
want
to
throw
in
there:
mentoring,
mentoring
is
really
good,
because
mentoring
gives
you
the
opportunity
to
practice
giving
feedback
as
well
as
seeing
if
you
can
get
results
through
someone
else
which
is
really
key.
So
as
you're
mentoring,
your
mentee,
if
they
grow
or
not
that's
a
great
opportunity
as
well.
A
A
B
Okay,
I
would
say
the
first
thing
I
would
like
to
see:
is
you
exceeding
in
your
current
role
right?
You
need
to
know
how
to
do
your
job
very
well,
so
that
you
have
a
technical
credibility
of
your
team
and
then,
after
that,
as
I
mentioned
before,
taking
on
some
managerial
tasks,
mentoring,
sid
mentioned
interviewing.
B
You
might
have
to
wait
right
just
because
you're
ready
doesn't
mean
that
that
perfect
position
is
ready
for
you,
and
I
don't
want
people
to
be
discouraged
and
say
well,
I
should
be
a
manager.
Now,
I'm
going
to
leave
trust
me.
You
have
your
best
opportunity
being
a
manager
at
gitlab,
as
we
coached
you
and
invested
in
you
and
we
believe
in
you.
C
I
think
that's
a
really
good
list.
I
I
really
like
what
you
said
about
like
exceeding
in
your
current
role.
Sometimes
people
think
that,
in
order
to
get
a
promotion
in
general
like
they
have
to
do
all
kinds
of
extracurricular
stuff,
and
it
helps
the
most
important
thing
is
to
exceed
your
current
role
and
people
should
not
forget
that
I
also
thought
of
like
how
else
can
you
show
that
you're
ready?
I
think,
handbook
updates.
Significant
handbook
updates
are
also
something
where
you
show.
C
You
understand
the
organization
of
work
and
then
it's
it's
great
stuff
to
include
in
a
promotional
document,
because
it's
very
objective
and
it's
easy
to
point
to
and
then
I
totally
agree
with
the
patients.
I
also
think
it's
really
important
to
sh
to
to
make
your
intention
clear
to
your
manager
so
state
your
intention
of
wanting
to
become
a
manager
and
the
sooner
the
better,
but
then
be
patient.
C
So
what
what
is
not
good
is
like
you,
you
had
the
intention
for
three
years
and
you
tell
your
manager
and
you
expect
it
in
a
month.
What
is
really
good
is
saying:
hey.
I
want
to
become
a
manager
today
and
I
looked
at
myself
and
I
don't
think
I'm
cutting
it
in
these
three
things.
So
can
you
give
me
an
assessment
of
whether
that's
correct,
and
can
we
make
a
plan
how
to
improve
that
over
the
next
three
years?
A
It
yeah,
those
are,
those
are
great
points.
I
think
the
the
patience
one
is
is
something
like
you
know.
As
a
millennial,
you
know
I
do.
I
do
struggle
with
a
little
bit
just
because
you
know
you
want
that
instance.
Promotion.
You
want
that
instant
bump,
but
I
think
exceeding
in
your
current
role.
Blowing
it
out
of
the
water
and
being
patient
is
a
really
great
way
just
to
say,
hey.
This
takes
time
to
grow
into
a
management
role
and.
B
Josh,
can
I
just
just
add,
exceeding
in
your
current
world,
consistently,
not
okay.
I
finally
got
exceeding
I'm
ready
a
lot.
You
you
don't
just
turn
into
a
a
manager
overnight
or
or
an
expert
engineer,
or
I
see
overnight,
you
have
to
fail,
you
have
to
make
mistakes
and
you
have
you
have
to
have
some
experience,
so
I
would
say
just
succeeding
once
is
not
enough.
C
Well,
I
think
it's
also
important
that,
like
yes,
patience,
but
your
manager
should
be
able
to
tell
you
what
we're
waiting
for
like
it's
don't
accept
that
someone
is
just
like.
Well
just
wait
for
it.
We
might
do
it
next
quarter
without
explaining
like
what
the
gap
is,
the
gap
can
be
anything
from.
Oh
we're,
we
have
a
ratio
here
and
we
there's
just
not
a
team
for
you
to
take
on
there's
many
valid
explanations,
but
someone
your
manager
should
be
able
to
have
a
conversation,
and
you
should.
C
B
A
It's
really
great
feedback,
so
you
know
we
we
mentioned.
We
touched
on
some
of
the
skills
that
an
ic
needs
in
order
to
be
a
people
leader
like
mentoring
and
coaching.
But
how
do
you
develop
those
skills
at
gitlab?
How
can
you
go
deeper
into
becoming
a
better
mentor
to
coaching
better
to
giving
feedback
more
effectively?
What
are
what
are
some
ways
you
can
develop
those
skills.
B
C
There's
our
great
suggestions.
I
also
want
to
point
to
our
structure
page.
If
you,
google,
gitlab
structure,
you'll
find
a
list
of
things
that
come
into
play
and,
as
you
become
a
manager,
there
are
36
items.
So
I'm
not
going
to
repeat
them
in
this
call,
I
think
they're
relevant
and
we
should
probably
add
a
link
to
them
from
from
the
page
we're
discussing
today.
A
Great-
and
you
know
I'm
also
curious,
you
know
if
we
could
touch
more
on
the
resources
get
lab
has
in
place
for
for
aspiring
managers.
You
know
darva,
you
mentioned
linkedin
learning
professional
development,
but
I'm
curious,
you
know.
Are
there
from
your
experience?
Were
there
other
things
that
you
know
you?
Could
you
took
advantage
of
during
your
management
career
to
to
build
that
skill
set.
B
Before
gitlab
we
had
a
structural.
I
had
structural
management
program
that
I
went
through,
but
here
at
gitlab
I
came
in
as
an
engineering
manager
so,
and
I
was
later
on,
promoted
to
a
senior
manager
and
one
thing
that
gitlab
gave
me
the
opportunity
to
participate
was
plato
hq
it's
a
program
where
you
have
a
mentor
outside
of
gitlab,
and
it
was
phenomenal,
and
I
really
credited
for
helping
me-
make
the
transition
from
manager
to
senior
manager
having
an
outside
perspective
and
giving
me
outside
feedback
about.
B
My
performance
was
really
helpful
for
me.
So
that
was
one
internal
program
that
I
had.
I
also
participated
in
multiple
mentoring
programs.
We
had
mentor
engineering
intern,
I'm
sorry,
internship
programs.
We
had
an
engineering
internship
program
where
we
had
a
student
from
the
university
of
michigan
and
I
had
the
opportunity
to
work
with
that
student
and
work
with
ics
to
mentor
that
student.
B
So
it's
kind
of
that
double
layer
of
I'm
working
with
someone,
who's,
mentoring,
someone
and
I
also
participated
in
the
internal
internship
program
where
we're
teaching
engineers
from
other
parts
of
git
lab
about
graphql,
and
that
was
another
opportunity
where
I
was
coaching
and
I
see
to
mentor
someone
else.
So
those
programs
are
really
helpful
for
me.
C
C
I've
done
it
most
of
my
most
of
my
time
at
get
lab
and
it's
it's
expensive
for
the
company.
I
think
it's
worth
it
in
the
cases
where
we
allow
you
to
expense
it,
and
I
think
it's
a
no-brainer
to
do,
and
it's,
although,
like
your
conversations
with
your
manager,
should
be
open,
it's
great
to
have
like
an
outside
perspective
and
someone
who
who's
not
gonna,
write
your
performance
review
as
well,
so
very
much
encouraged.
C
A
A
A
B
Do
and
even
for
engineering
I'm
struggling
whether
it
would
just
be
specific
to
development
and
not
other
parts
of
engineering.
I
think
that
every
role
that
path
and
I
see
to
a
manager,
not
even
the
manager-
might
look
different.
So
if
I
was
in
people's
business
partners,
it's
going
to
look
different,
they
don't
have
team
retrospectives.
B
If
I
was
on
sale,
I
have
no
idea
what
the
world
looks
like.
So
it's
going
to
look
different
and
I
definitely
will
say
that
when
you
have
it
more
transparent
and
spelled
out
it's
easier
for
the
individual
contributor
to
go
to
their
manager
and
say
look
I
want
to
do
something
like
this,
and
and
also
it
takes
away
just
kind
of
the
the
blind
spot
that
some
managers
might
might
have.
So
I
think
that
it's
really
great
to
have
it
for
every
functional
team.
So
everyone
knows
what
it
looks
like.
C
A
Sure
definitely-
and
you
know
you
know
darva,
you
also
mentioned
when
we
spoke
a
little
while
ago.
Just
of
you
know,
if
there's
a
pathway,
if
an
ic
is
interested
in
changing
roles,
you
know
sometimes
like
a
promotion
isn't
always
necessarily
needed
or
they
want
to
like
try
something
else
out
within
the
organization.
B
So
this
is
this
is
interesting
because
I've
dealt
with
this
a
few
time
in
my
career.
I
have
a
star
team
member
who
doesn't
want
to
be
on
my
team,
mainly
because
they
want
to
do
something
totally
different
and
I've
noticed
in
the
position
here
at
gitlab.
I've
seen
maybe
some
front-end
engineers
who'd
like
to
be
backing
engineers
or
some
back-end
engineers
who
want
to
be
full
stack
or
some
support
engineers
who
want
to
be
backing
engineers,
and
there
really
isn't
a
pathway
for
that.
B
I
think
the
best
thing
to
do
in
that
case
is
to
communicate
to
your
manager,
and
then
maybe
your
manager
can
work
out
an
internship,
but
it
it
that's,
that's
harder
to
do
it's
not
like
you're
going
to
a
team
to
learn
a
skill.
You
actually
want
to
leave
your
current
team
and
go
to
this
next
team.
I
do
think
it's
our
responsibility
to
develop
a
pathway
for
them.
B
C
Yeah
that
totally
subscribe
to
that
also,
when
your
current
manager
isn't
helping
feel
free
to
talk,
try
to
talk
to
your
the
manager
of
your
manager
feel
free
to
reach
out
to
a
people,
business
partner,
and
always
it's
okay-
to
talk
to
your
like
next
manager
like
if
you
want
to
join
another
team,
feel
free
to
reach
out
to
that
manager.
At
some
point
during
the
process,
they'll
have
to
kind
of
do
a
reference
check,
whether
you're
in
good
standing
in
your
current
role
etc.
C
But
that's
that
certainly
will
be
that's
something
that
is
a
gate
and
like
they'll
tell
you
and
you'll
have
a
decision
beforehand,
but
you
totally
free
to
talk
to
anybody
in
the
company.
We
want
the
people
in
inside
the
company
to
have
it
at
the
minimum.
The
same
opportunity
just
as
people
outside
the
company
and
your
manager
can
never
kind
of
ask
that
you
stay
on
the
current
team.
If
you
want
to
go
someplace
else,
they'll
have
to
let
you
go.
B
And
I
would
add
to
josh
that
we
could
throw
in
you
have
ten
thousand
dollars
a
year
to
make
to
build
those
skills
to
make
that
transition,
so
this
would
be
a
great
opportunity
to
partner
with
l
d,
but
I
agree
with
sid.
This
is
something
that
I
mean:
that's
professional
development.
It's
investing
in
our
team
members.
That's
what
we
do
so.
I
would
definitely
support
that
on
any
of
the
teams.
C
It's
it's
even
it's
even
more
liberal,
as
in
like
your
manager,
should
support
you
to
kind
of
grow
your
career.
Even
if
your
next
role
is
outside
of
gitlab,
they
should
still
be
supportive.
You
can
spend
that
budget
to
do
that,
and
they
should
be
helping
you
to
find
the
final
role
outside
of
gitlab
and
think
through
that.
B
A
B
I
think
the
one
thing
that
I
wanted
to
to
touch
on
was
the
multiplier
effect.
One
of
the
most
important
things
as
a
manager
is
to
be
able
to
be
very
impactful
and
multiply
results.
So
if
you're-
and
I
see
you
impact
your
team
by
the
great
work
you
do,
if
you're
a
manager,
you
then
impact
the
company
at
a
higher
level,
because
you
have
now
four
to
seven
people
who
are
producing
results
and
the
higher
up.
You
go
the
bigger
your
impact.
B
C
If
you
want
to
be
the
best
coder
in
the
world,
you
should
code
in
a
very
high
impact
language,
because
the
lines
of
code
you'll,
write
a
day
are
probably
pretty
constant.
The
highest
impact
language
is
called
english
and
the
best
runtimes
are
humans
and
they're.
Also
the
most
interesting
runtimes
and
they're
they're
a
lot
of
fun
to
get
to
know
and
to
help
and
to
grow
our
company.