Transitioning from being a developer to a manager

I started my career as a front-end developer and transitioned from developer to leader about 7 years ago. It wasn’t an easy path. I wasn’t prepared for how difficult it would be to let go of work, to trust other people with work that I “knew” I could do better and do faster.

I also wasn’t prepared for how difficult it was to listen to people, to open up and not assume I knew all the correct answers right away. I had a lot of help along the way and a leadership team that understood the adjustments I needed to make to move into this position. But there were times when I asked myself, “Was this the right move?”.

All of this to say: I understand what it means to move into a management position as a developer, and hopefully, some advice I can impart here will be useful.

Development trackspermalink

I think many developers view management — of some kind — as the inevitable endpoint of their careers. It’s often seen as the only clear path forward, the default next step to bump your pay, or gain more influence. For a long time, this was largely true — the career ladder had one shape and the rungs at the top were all labelled “Manager”, “Director”, or “VP” — but this is an outdated view, and we’re rapidly seeing it change.

A successful tech career isn’t a ladder; it’s a continuously forking road.

Many modern tech organisations now offer a dual-track career path for developers. One path is for management, and the other is the Individual Contributor (IC) path. Think of it as a fundamental shift in your job’s purpose. As a developer, your primary goal is to solve complex problems. As a manager, your primary goal is to build and support a team that solves complex problems.

This raises the most critical question you need to ask yourself: “Do I want to be a manager?” Are you genuinely drawn to the work of mentoring people, facilitating discussions, clearing roadblocks, and focusing on team health? Or are you just looking for a salary you believe only comes with a manager role?

Here’s the hard truth: managers who don’t want the job make bad managers. They’re often the ones who can’t let go and end up micromanaging, or who become disconnected and can’t course-correct poor performance, or end up resenting their team and seeding a toxic culture.

Making the change for the right reasons is the first and most critical step to becoming a manager people want to follow.

So, you’ve decided to be a managerpermalink

You’ve reflected on your options, and you have a good sense of what sort of good you can do in the role. You’ve decided to work towards becoming a manager. Transitioning into this new role is a not insignificant shift, and it’s important to enter it with a clear understanding.

The following sections will guide you through some key skills and mindsets that will (hopefully) help you succeed. We’ll talk about the challenges of letting go of control and delegating, why your experience matters, the importance of finding your own authentic style, and what you can do now to work towards this goal.

Delegation and control

Transitioning from IC to manager means shifting your mindset from “doing the work” to “enabling others to do the work”. This is where the challenge of delegation comes in. For many, it’s one of the most difficult first challenges you’ll face. It certainly was for me.

Effective delegation isn’t just about handing off tasks; it’s about entrusting your team with the autonomy to find their own solutions. Your role is no longer to write the code, but to define the problem, provide the necessary context and resources and then get out of the way. This shift requires a leap of faith; you go from needing to only really trust yourself to needing to trust that others can execute based on the resources you’ve provided.

This trust is a two-way street. By giving your team members the freedom to tackle a problem in their own way, you empower them to grow their skills, build confidence, and feel a greater sense of ownership over their work. They may not do things exactly as you would, but that’s ok — in fact, it’s often a good thing. I’ve learned a great deal from my team members over the years, specifically as a result of providing this autonomy.

Delegation is a skill that must be practiced. Spend some time thinking about what information you’d like to receive if given a task. Try to be outcome-focused rather than overly prescriptive. Provide support and be available to answer questions and unblock people, but resist the urge to jump in and take over (trust me when I say this never ends well). Celebrate successes and use any missteps as a learning opportunity, for both them and yourself. The more you practice letting go of control, the more you’ll realise that your true value as a manager lies in the success of the team you’ve built and supported.

Communication

Everyone has a different communication style and it’s incumbent upon you, the manager, to adapt to theirs, not vice versa.

Some people are direct and prefer quick messages, while others thrive on collaborative, in-person discussions. Taking the time to observe and understand these preferences builds trust and ensures your message is received correctly. This also involves active listening, a critical skill for a leader. When you listen actively, you gain valuable insight and show your team that you value their perspective. This fosters a safe environment where people feel comfortable raising concerns and sharing new ideas.

Learn from your examples

I often talk about some of the bad examples of managers I’ve had over the years, teaching me more about the role than the good ones. They’ve taught me what not to do.

For example, I once had a manager who took advantage of a tragic situation involving a business partner’s death, using it to gain control of company stock through a manipulative scheme that directly involved the employees. A couple of weeks after this, I was called in to be reprimanded for not being enthusiastic enough.

A year after this, and at another company, I remember having a manager who said, “Thank you so much, this is excellent,” after I delivered my first project to her. It sounds funny to admit this now, but I can’t understate how affecting those words were at the time. In my professional career, I had never felt so valued and essential.

These two examples have really shaped how I approach my team. Building trust is one of the most important tasks I undertake, as I believe it’s the only avenue to open communication, job satisfaction and enthusiasm.

Learn from your examples, good and bad. Reflect on your experiences and try to understand the reasons a manager may have done something they’ve done. Focus on the bigger picture and ask yourself: how might I have behaved in this same situation? Lean on your experience and allow it to shape your management style.

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Be your own style of boss

Not every manager is the same; you’re not the same as every other manager. Your greatest strength as a manager or leader is your authenticity. The most effective managers understand their unique strengths and build their style around them.

Think about the skills that make you a great developer. Maybe you’re a meticulous problem-solver, a creative thinker or a great collaborator. These skills don’t disappear; they evolve. Your problem-solving can now be used to clear roadblocks for your team, while your creative thinking can help motivate and inspire them.

Reflect on your strengths and consider how they can be integrated into this new role.

Perspectives

A big light-bulb moment for me when I first moved into a management role was how different everything looked from this new perspective. As an IC, my world was centred on my own work and immediate team. My primary responsibilities were to write code, solve technical problems, and deliver on the tasks assigned to me. From that vantage point, a manager’s decisions could sometimes seem arbitrary or disconnected from the reality on the ground. When a deadline was changed or a project was suddenly de-prioritised, it was easy to assume they were just out of touch or that the decision wasn’t well thought out.

This new role changed that view completely. Suddenly, my focus had to expand to encompass budgets, client relationships, strategy, and people (a subject that I had sorely ignored to that point). I was no longer managing tasks; I was managing people, their career growth, and their well-being. A project delay that once seemed like a simple technical issue now affected client trust and resource allocation across the company. A single employee’s challenge wasn’t just a matter of support; it was a factor in team morale and overall productivity.

It was a humbling moment that made me realise I’d been making assumptions about previous managers’ behaviours, judging them without understanding the pressures and competing priorities they were balancing.

Your perspective will change as you move into your first management role and it will continue to change as you move into further roles. Understanding that you may not have the whole picture is a critical skill to hone if you hope to be an effective manager.

Management starts at the bottompermalink

Whether you’re just starting to think about whether a move into management is right for you, or you’ve just scored your first management job, it’s important to also understand that management also works in the other direction. “Managing up” is a key skill that I think everyone should learn, because it’s a skill that empowers you and makes you a more valuable asset to your team. And it’s never too early to start.

“Managing up” is a proactive approach to building a strong, collaborative relationship with your manager. It means understanding their communication style, their priorities and appreciating some of the pressures they’re facing. It’s about making your manager’s job easier, making your job and your team’s work more effective.

For example, don’t just bring problems to your manager; bring solutions. Instead of saying “We have a problem with the new build toolchain”, try “I’ve identified a problem with the build toolchain, and I think we have two solutions: A or B. I think B is the better solution because of X, Y, and Z. What do you think?”

You’ll gain essential skills for any leadership role by learning to manage up. You’ll learn how to communicate effectively with people in different positions, and how to anticipate needs and potential roadblocks. You’ll also build a reputation as reliable, thoughtful, and proactive.

Ultimately, your success and job satisfaction are tied to your relationship with your manager, and, as a manager, your relationship with your team. Managing, both up and down, is by far the most powerful way to affect those relationships. Leadership isn’t just a title - it’s a mindset.

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