What are the best ways to ramp up as a new engineering manager?
The most important thing is to make sure you have strong mentorship relationships with other engineering leaders. These could be your own manager, peer managers at your company, or managers at other companies. Management is a skill that varies greatly from situation to situation and individual to individual. Its also often a private, even a lonely job, as much of your work is not public or shared widely. Having a support network allows you to share detailed context of what situations youre encountering, how youre thinking about them, and get different perspectives, and has been the single most important thing in my own development as an engineering manager. A peer support network also provides an important way for you to take care of yourself. Many new managers put tremendous stress on themselves Of course, there are many great books as well. Im a big fan of interleaving theory and practice. Periodically returning to books after gaining real-world experience is a great way to consolidate what youve learned, and ground what youre reading into real-life situations. Two of my favorites are The Managers Path by Camille Fournier and High Output Management by Andy Grove. You can also see What is the best book on engineering management? for more recommendations.