What makes a good IT manager?
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After coming across and reading
https://www.computerworld.com/article/2527153/opinion-the-unspoken-truth-about-managing-geeks.html
And finding that it's contents are incredibly accurate in terms of what makes IT professionals "happy" when working for a company.
I want to know what other people think makes for a good IT manager.
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I recently "upgraded" to a position of manager rather than sysadmin I feel most of this article is on point.
I always told myself that if I ever become a manger I have to remember how it was when I was a tech and an admin and had to deal with a bad manager.
(I don't think the article is particularly well written but English isn't my first language so it could very well be me that's having issues reading it.)
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tehBishop I think the English is mostly fine, not perfect, but it is an opinion piece so it's written however the author wanted with maybe some spelling corrections by the editors.
I think the biggest issue with IT is in fact managers who either have forgotten what it's like to be a tech or admin, or worse never worked a day of their life in IT previously. I think that these teams are the ones that tend to have terrible working conditions and also tend to have that "us vs them" type mentality with end users.
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tankerkiller125 I have to agree that the teams lead by non-IT type managers tend to suck. I wish there was some sort of law/rule that managers had to be hired from inside teams instead of being hired from outside the company, especially because exec suites seem to like to hire MBA degree professionals with zero IT experience to manage IT.
You even see it at smaller companies where IT is managed or directed by HR or Accounting instead of an actual tech minded manager.
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I've just read this article with a great deal of interest. Whilst it's not "perfect" in the way it's written, it certainly does a very good job in explaining the IT function to a tee - and despite having been written in 2009, it's still factually correct and completely relevant.
The points made are impossible to disagree with. Yes, IT pros do want their managers to be technically competent - there's nothing worse than having a manager who's never been "on the tools" and is non technical - they are about as much use as a chocolate fireguard when it comes to being a sound board for technical issues that a specific tech cannot easily resolve.
I've been in senior management since 2016 and being on the tools previously for 30+ years has enabled me to see both the business and technical angles - and equally appreciate both of them. Despite my management role, I still maintain a strong technical presence, and am (probably) the most senior and experienced technical resource in my team.
That's not to say that the team members I do have aren't up to the job - very much the opposite in fact and for the most part, they work unsupervised and only call on my skill set when they have exhausted their own and need someone with a trained ear to bounce ideas off.
On the flip side, I've worked with some cowboys in my industry who can talk the talk but not walk the walk - and they are exposed very quickly in smaller firms where it's harder to hide technical deficit behind others.
