About 3 years ago now I got a surprise promotion to manage the team of DBAs and developers at PTI. I had never been in management before and hadn’t really aspired to go down that road so was a bit of a shock when it happened. In the middle of the shock and glow from ego boost I took on the challenge. It took me few to get my footing but then started to find my stride managing. Over time as my team grew it kept pulling me more and more away from being technical which started to put a LARGE ache in me. Any time I would go to speak at a SQL event and find someone else in management, I would leech onto them and try to glean any wisdom/guidance on how they found their path and balance in the dual worlds. I knew eventually something would have to change because I knew without a doubt I wanted to stay technical and keep doing the things out in the community like SQLSaturdays. All the while though I am getting praise for the job I was doing managing the team. I am a stubborn/internally competitive person and for a long time I worked my butt off trying to convince myself I was Wonder Woman and could do it all. I totally still think I am Wonder Woman but am a little less delusional that I can do it all. When I got to 12 direct reports, I finally came to my senses and promoted a couple of guys on my team under me to help manage. Around that same time of the promotions, an opportunity to resurrect the training program at my company came along. I grabbed it and held on like grim death! It felt like to me like my technical life raft had arrived! It was a very tight timeline to put together the material but I was in, big time in! So I have been busting butt putting together this material with Kyle Neier and Arie Jones for a super great 2 day training course (link to info below). The timeline was brutal but I had an absolute ball putting it together! It was so much fun and it did a couple things at the same time. The first thing was that it made me step back and let the guys I promoted spread their wings a bit more than I probably would have otherwise. I wouldn’t say I’m a control freak but I will make sure the job is getting done. The other and most lovely is that it scratched that technical itch that I’ve had for a long time! Who knows if I will come to that full crossroad eventually that makes me choose to manage or stay technical but this helped delay it for a bit to see if I can find balance in both worlds.
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If you are interested in the training we are doing. You can find info on it here.
Hope Foley's Blog 