Top 3 Challenges After Becoming an Engineering Manager

Becoming an Engineering Manager is a significant career milestone for many engineers or tech leaders. As a manager, you are responsible for leading a team of technical experts, overseeing the development of projects, and ensuring that the work is delivered on time and at the highest quality. However, the transition from an individual contributor to a manager is not without its challenges.

One of my mentees asked me about the challenges I faced after taking on my new role as an Engineering Manager, so this article will provide insights and my recommendations on how to overcome them. These challenges include balancing technical and managerial responsibilities, leading and inspiring a team, and effective communication. For each challenge I proposed 3 solutions.

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About Feedback

Working as part of a team is about collaboration and communication. In the equation of improving the processes and our leadership style, the feedback is a powerful tool.

Giving and receiving feedback is a skill that could be learned. It takes time, courage, and involvement in transforming it into a habit, but the positive impact brought worth all the effort.

Photo by Hybrid on Unsplash
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Tips to ace a job interview

The job interview experience is not an easy one, but the good news is that with the proper approach it could become steady.

In this article, I will cover the tools and a process to thoroughly prepare you for the interviews so you will nail them with confidence, enthusiasm, and less anxiety. So let’s discover together how to ace a job interview in 3,5 steps that will bring your dream job.

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3rd part MBS.works – The Year of Living Brilliantly

This is the third article about MBS.works – The Year of Living Brilliantly that contains the latest lessons of the program. Just like in the first and second articles, I added my notes for each session, plus references to learn more about the person who is talking about that topic.

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2nd part MBS.works – The Year of Living Brilliantly

This is the second article about MBS.works – The Year of Living Brilliantly that contains the next 17 lessons of the program. Just like in the first one, I added my notes for each session, plus references to learn more about the person who is talking about that topic.

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Android Final Project – Winter 2021

My journey as an Android mentor and trainer for Atelierul Digital pentru Programatori has continued also this year. Every time a group of students graduates I am amazed by their creativity, perseverance, and especially about their final projects. 

“Atelierul digital pentru Programatori” is a program started by Google Romania in 2018 and it happens in multiple tech universities from Romania. I teach Android Fundamentals and I also created the curricula and the materials for this course that is organised in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, and Iasi. Until now I trained more than 240 students and it is an amazing experience.

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7 Questions to build The Coaching Habit

These years I discovered how helpful is to ask the right question when I am engaged in a conversation or meeting with my team or with one of my coworkers. I understood that by asking relevant questions I help my team members to find their own solutions that fit better their needs and for sure by doing so they are more committed and involved to implement them.

I read and enjoyed very much the idea of “manager as a teacher” and then this concept connected in my mind with the very powerful skill of asking good questions that will empower and help my team members to be successful.

I talked about this topic in an 1:1 with an Agile Coach and he recommended me this book: “The Coaching Habit” by Michael Bungay Stanier, and yes, for sure, this book is an amazing source of knowledge and inspiration about how to improve your skill of asking questions and making it a habit, the coaching habit. It was an incredible gift for me. 🎁 And this article is a summary of that book.

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3 Books that will boost your Leadership Skills

This blog post is different than the usual content from here. This time I would like to share with you 3 books that helped me a lot in my career as a leader.
I love to read books and after I finish reading a book I do a schema or a summary, or a mindmap to extract the useful info for me, to build my leadership toolbox.🧰
From these 3 books, I learned more about myself, about how important is to understand my WHY, or how helpful are OKRs even to build a personal learning plan. I also understood how essential is to create a context where my team can be successful and motivated to do their best.
Happy reading! 🤓📚

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1st part MBS.works – The Year of Living Brilliantly

At the beginning of this year I joined the program MBS.works – The Year of Living Brilliantly. It is a one year journey, with 52 teachers divided into three seasons. Season one is about grounding – about breathing in awareness, and courage, and insight, and in this article I added my notes for each session and the lessons I discovered during this amazing experience.

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