Why Engineers Hate Their Managers (And What to Do About It)

My Thoughts

Management is lonely. It’s a job where you’re constantly making decisions with incomplete information, balancing competing priorities, and yes - sitting in those same soul-crushing meetings that engineers hate.

Engineers do not hate managers, they hate bad management, and this comes from different places. Good managers:

• They protect focus time like it’s sacred. They batch communications, decline unnecessary meetings, and push back on interruptions. When they need something, they’ll drop it in Slack with “no rush, when you get a chance.”
• They stay technical enough to make informed decisions. They might not code daily, but they understand the trade-offs. They ask questions instead of making assumptions. Most importantly, they trust their team’s technical judgment.
• They give credit lavishly and take blame personally. In public, it’s always “the team delivered.” In private with their boss, it’s “I should have caught that.”
• They make feedback actually meaningful. They don’t wait for annual reviews to share observations - they give specific, timely feedback based on work they’ve actually paid attention to. When review time comes, there are no surprises, and they fight for their team’s promotions.