Glossary
What is engineering manager?
An engineering manager is responsible for the people, delivery and health of an engineering team, usually of five to ten engineers, rather than for writing most of its code.
The role exists to make a team effective: hiring, coaching, performance, planning and the relationship with product. Most engineering managers in startups still write some code, but the job is judged on the team's output and retention, not their own commits.
The commonest mistake is promoting the strongest engineer into the role without wanting to manage. The second is hiring a manager too early, before there is a team to manage.
When should a startup hire its first engineering manager?
Usually when the founding engineers can no longer give the team the attention it needs, which tends to be somewhere between eight and twelve engineers, or when a second team forms. Earlier than that, a tech lead and a founder usually cover the need.