if someone doesnt eventually end up in management, have they failed?

[brianmanahan]

i was interviewing for a job and they asked me the usual, "where do you see yourself in 5 years?" question. i said that typically i dont plan that far ahead, but my goal is to do what i enjoy, and right now i enjoy doing software development.

they seemed kind of surprised by that, but i think i might get a job offer anyway. it made me think though - they were probably expecting me to say i wanted to go into management eventually. from what i've tasted of management, i can tell that i hate it. but most everyone seems to make it their end-game career goal.

hence the poll: do you think that if someone doesnt eventually end up in a manager position, that they have failed at their career?

 

[eldorado99]

Not if they didn't want to be there. If they did though I guess you could say they didn't totally succeed as much as they wanted to.

 

[Mixolydian]

Management is not the "be-all and end-all" in every job field.

 

[WiseUp216]

I think, in most situations, that anyone that excels at their job will eventually be responsible for managing other employees.

 

[Anubis]

In my experience people who become managers failed at everything else

 

[PenguinPower]

Not at all. Just because you are technically awesome, doesn't mean you have what it takes to lead a team/group/dept. Quite honestly, there is usually a strong need for technical experts to stay in their individual contributor role.

 

[Jeff7]

Not at all. Just because you are technically awesome, doesn't mean you have what it takes to lead a team/group/dept. Quite honestly, there is usually a strong need for technical experts to stay in their individual contributor role.

This.


"This person is good at math. Let's make them manage people instead!"




I'm not a big fan of people. I prefer to work with inanimate objects. Being in management, having to deal with personnel issues and being in constant meetings, is a distasteful thought.

 

[velillen]

Nope. Just depends on the person. Being on the blue collar side i know plenty of guys who want to "stay on the tools" instead of becoming supervisors/management. Less stress, enjoy the work, and go home at the end of the day. Soon as you get into supervisor/management level its more stress, being called anytime of the day, being responsible for retards who work for you, and having to work overtime whenever they say pretty much.

Ive had my taste of it. The actual work isnt hard but the admin BS and then having 2-3 people trying ot tell you what to do got old FAST. Someday i might go for it but right now i just enjoy showing, getting my job, go do said job, go home at end of day.

O and being able to tell my boss hey im taking tomorrow off is a nice bonus. Not as doable as a supervisor

 

[dud]

In my experience people who become managers failed at everything else

Exactly. The OP got it all wrong. If you end up in management ... you have failed.

 

[Howard]

So just pretend it's a universe where their brains have a much higher specific thinking power than ours do.

 

[brianmanahan]

I think, in most situations, that anyone that excels at their job will eventually be responsible for managing other employees.

this is kind of what happened to me at my current job. i did decent work, people leading my team left, and they said "hey you are in charge of the team now".

it is not full management - just assigning tasks and trackingreporting progress, not hiring/firing/evaluating/etc. but i still dont like it. which is why i hope the next job requires less of that type of work.

 

[Jeff7]

this is kind of what happened to me at my current job. i did decent work, people leading my team left, and they said "hey you are in charge of the team now".

it is not full management - just assigning tasks and trackingreporting progress, not hiring/firing/evaluating/etc. but i still dont like it. which is why i hope the next job requires less of that type of work.

Maybe it's because if you're competent or good at your job, they want to put you into a position that's more valuable to the company. They don't want you wasting that good work ethic on trivial jobs - jobs that aren't management. You need to be doing something outside your primary field. Sure you went to college for engineering, but hey, let's put you in charge of a department instead! Then you can work on business strategy, resolving personal disputes in your department, motivating employees with your excellent people skills, and go to lots of meetings to talk about things!

This of course makes sense because some of the other people in management positions also should not be there.

I was going to say that you would do well to have someone who is both knowledgeable about the things the people in their department would be doing and who would want to be in a management position. But, it seems that too many people who really do want to be managers also tend to have personalities which either teeter on the border of "personality disorder," or which are firmly entrenched there.

"Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"

"Managing the entire Heavy Fabrication division."

"Why is that?"

"Because making other people do what I tell them to do turns my underwear comfortably moist."

 

[mmntech]

In my experience people who become managers failed at everything else

When I worked for the rental company, I coined this as "failing your way to the top". People get into middle management, they might make a good salary but they stall there. They slap on a nice suit, buy a BMW 3 series, and act like the hot shit. But they've peaked in their life by that point.

There's really only two kinds of people who matter in any business. The people toiling at the bottom, because they make the money. The people at the top, because they invest the money. Everything else is just filler. I'd much rather take what I've learned at the bottom and start my own business, then rot as some middle manager for some faceless corporation. As the old saying goes, better to rule in hell then serve in heaven.

 

[mistercrabby]

i was interviewing for a job and they asked me the usual, "where do you see yourself in 5 years?" question. i said that typically i dont plan that far ahead, but my goal is to do what i enjoy, and right now i enjoy doing software development.

they seemed kind of surprised by that, but i think i might get a job offer anyway. it made me think though - they were probably expecting me to say i wanted to go into management eventually. from what i've tasted of management, i can tell that i hate it. but most everyone seems to make it their end-game career goal.

hence the poll: do you think that if someone doesnt eventually end up in a manager position, that they have failed at their career?

Absolutely not. Is a great artist a failure because they don't run an art department? Surgeon? etc? I think people respect the simple truth of passion.

 

[Leros]

No and a good company should provide two career paths, one for people that want to go down the management route and one for people that don't.

 

[Kaido]

The people interviewing you are managers, so guess what they equate to being successful?

The definition of success is a personal one. You become successful by eventually becoming a manager if that is your definition of success. If not, it's just someone else putting ideas that aren't your own into your head.

With that said, learn how to play The Game. The game is a mild form of sucking up to whoever is over you. They want to hire someone self-motivated, so they want you to reinforce their decision to choose you by reinforcing that. By telling them you don't care about anything but now and don't want to become a manager eventually, you're telling them you're not a a self-motivated go-getter (in their eyes). Now, they don't really want that kind of person, because that's not the kind of person who stays in a typical 9 to 5 job - that's the kind of person who ends up working at a startup or starts their own business because they are a self-motivated go-getter. But that isn't everyone (it's not me, that's for sure - I like my 9 to 5 & I like not being the top-level manager, lower stress levels! haha). But you have to play The Game - give them enough to justify hiring you on.

 

[Imp]

Absolutely... Because one's life goal must be to manage others no matter how incapable you are at it -- explains all the questionable managers I've had.

 

[irishScott]

Hell no. Many companies richly reward their long-term bench guys. To be successful at it you basically need patents and mastery of your area of expertise, become the "go-to" guy for something at a company.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

They haven't failed. However, it is a common conceit of managers that everybody wants to be like them.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

No. I went into my chosen career path to have a career in my chosen field, not to have a career managing my chosen field.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

One of the biggest failings of the Air Force currently is that if you want to stay in you're forced to become management, and if you want to excel you're forced to do it quickly. Kills their skill retention and is a great harm in the carrier fields where it's essential to maintain a high amount of it.

 

[cuafpr]

no some people have no desire to be managers and some people shouldn't be managers no matter how great their techy skills are.

 

[cuafpr]

One of the biggest failings of the Air Force currently is that if you want to stay in you're forced to become management, and if you want to excel you're forced to do it quickly. Kills their skill retention and is a great harm in the carrier fields where it's essential to maintain a high amount of it.

YES!!! someone that agrees with me.. I'm a huge supporter that they need to allow people to focus on one career/station/job for 20 years if they want. even if it kills their chances at promotions. I was an officer before budget cuts, and i would have gladly stayed a capt with a shot a major and spent 20 years doing ICBM crew work had they let me...

 

[her209]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle

 

[Anarchist420]

the smartest people are independent and if you are in management then you're a failure even if it makes you richer financially.