#21 - Intentional Technical Leadership

Hey my friend!

Happy Saturday! 🎉

Welcome to another issue of the Intentional Technical Leadership newsletter.

How's life? I hope you have had a great summer!

I'm just back from a fantastic holiday in Florida with the family. It was so great to relax for 2 weeks and let my brain forget about work and the stresses of life for a while.

I'm heavily jet-lagged today so this issue is a little bit self-indulgent I'm afraid. It was easier for me to share a few of my own articles rather than try to think properly with little sleep from an overnight flight! 😴

But first I've got to say thanks to Bennett Garner who shared a wonderful article he'd written on Medium which quoted me as one of the technical writers who'd helped to shape his development career.

As I shared in my last newsletter, I really think that writing is an additional super power that you can use to increase your influence and impact, and expand your network to grow your career in technology. It was really great to hear from Bennett and to discover that my own writing is helping others.

One of the main reasons I wanted to write was to help others to succeed in the technology industry.

Have a read of Bennet's article below.

5 writers who made me completely rethink my developer career

👋🏻 Articles From Me

As I mentioned above, my brain is tired today so I'm sharing some of my best articles that I've written over the past year. I hope you find them useful.

Asking for feedback as a leader

Most people are terrible at asking for feedback. As leaders we often expect our teams to tell us what they think but they might not feel comfortable doing so. Learn how to ask for feedback as a leader and why you should be asking for feedback regularly.

How do you measure success?

We constantly compare ourselves to others with their perfect Instagram lives (which aren't real!) but how do we measure our own success? It's time to define your definition of success and your journey to get there.

Never get too comfortable

I stayed at many jobs for far too long in my nearly 30 year career in the tech industry.

You might feel like you can't move onto to something new because you're comfortable in your role. You feel stuck but don't know what to do.

If it's time think about your next steps, then read my article and take control of your career.

Become a better software engineering manager

People often think that a software engineering manager is the next step after being a senior/staff/principal software engineer.

It's not.

It's a different role with a different set of skills.

Here are a few of things you'll need to think about if you want to be a better software engineering manager.

Share your network

I wish someone had shared this article with me when I was early in my career.

Building out your network is really important for your career growth.

Sharing your network with your team can help to propel their careers too so read how you can do it.

Be a force multiplier

How can you be a more effective technical leader or engineering manager? By being a force multiplier!

Learn how to have more impact in your role as a manager and bring out the best in all of your team by using the force.

Lift your team up

I love being a cheerleader for my team members. I want everyone I work with to succeed so I care about lifting my whole team up.

Learn how a "rising tide lifts all boats".

I need to start writing more so email me back and tell me which articles resonated with you and what you've like to read more about.

Hit reply and tell me what you want me to write about next.

As always, feel free to send me any interesting articles or podcasts you've found as I love hearing from my readers.

Have an amazing week and be excellent to each other!

I'll be recovered from jet-lag next week I hope so we'll be back to the normal newsletter.

Speak to you soon,
Marc

Senior Engineering Manager @ Netlify