<p>Hello all, I am a senior going to major in CS at a university. One of the things that I am most concerned about is how promotion opportunities are for software engineers. I know is a company that focuses solely on software products that there are plenty of promotion opportinities to positions such as software architect, project manager, product manager, etc. But, in a company that focuses on engineering products that have software components, i.e. defense and aerospace, are there still promotion opportunities for software engineers to positions such as project / product manager, etc? Or are those positions only given to EE/MechE/AeroE people? I appreciate any answers I can get.</p>
<p>Bump…</p>
<p>Maybe to the point of team leader or group manager of a software group. Not much higher since understanding the hardware guts of the product would be required for more senior non software management positions.</p>
<p>As the guy who hired me in 85 said, “you come here and you make it to level of Senior Engineer and then quit, transfer, or die, in that order”. A year later he took option #3… </p>
<p>There is a ‘technical’ ladder but it involves a lot of random pieces of work rather than focusing on one or two things, so meh. I’ve maxed out at Senior III for the last 14 years. Good pay raises tho.</p>
<p>Here’s a question: I’ve heard in some companies, the senior engineers are paid more than the engineering managers. Is that true?</p>
<p>Yes. I’m speaking from experience :)</p>
<p>Boss and I have same number of years in the company but he has two degrees to my four. Thanks to harebrained HR policies this determines salary at hire time, and if you stick around long enough like we did (28 years) and get similar raises then I’m still ahead. Not by much tho. Managers get MUCH larger profit sharing since ours is laddered by level i.e. I get 9% versus his 12% or more.</p>
<p>In other companies managers get a ‘stipend’ if they have direct reports and the stipend can be a few hundred dollars a month… That was Mrs. T’s experience who also made more than her manager for similar reasons to mine.</p>
<p>In either case, based on lifestyle observations, the difference is not all that much, more like single digits percentage. For the added responsibility and headaches they can keep the manager parking tags…</p>
<p>^haha. Turbo you crack me up “They can keep the manager parking tags” LOL</p>
<p>Can I ask what degrees do you formally have? You can pm if thats ok.</p>
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<p>True. At my previous employer, my technical manager was a Lead Engineer and I was a Senior Lead Engineer (whose job is to take on multiple projects and lead the “leads”). He has 15 years experience with a M.S. and I have 22 years with a M.S. I was being groomed for chief engineer and he had to get to at least 20 years experience to be accepted for that.</p>
<p>Also, since his position is mainly about timesheet approvals, employee reviews and helping to bring in new business, his type of position is often vacated by engineers. I don’t how many times e-mails kept floating around asking other senior engineers if we wanted those technical manager positions. Obviously, many of us turned them down.</p>
<p>Our guy won’t quit or transfer to another position so we’re stuck with him, and for the same reason he’s stuck with us. There’s a core of 7-8 people that have been there for 10+ years and can do quite a few things. </p>
<p>Tech management is interesting especially if you’re a people person (he’s your typical super smart ADHD engineer that has an incredible people side - his many years of faith based leadership seem to have helped). While he’s not doing the nuts and bolts he knows enough about them to understand issues and offer suggestions, resources, and the like. </p>
<p>By contrast Mrs. T. reports to some random dude in India (physically) with more dotted lines of command than an interstate highway and the chain of command is seriously messed up.</p>
<p>I feel the need to speak up for engineering managers, since I am one. I love my job. I get to do lots of fun technical things, and am able to pick and choose what I do myself and what I delegate to others. </p>
<p>Yes, software engineers can be promoted to management positions. First level managers are usually from the exact same discipline as the people they manage, so software engineers are usually managed by other software engineers. At higher management levels, this is less likely to be the case. But in my experience at tech companies, CS majors do just fine in climbing the management ranks, IF they have the desire to do so and the right people skills.</p>
<p>Lots of CS types have no desire to enter management. So those who have the desire to do so and the right people and communications skills are generally able to do so. I know a number of people who tried out managing a group, and then didn’t like it and chose to step back down to work as an individual contributor. </p>
<p>For a CS major who wanted to climb the management ranks above a first level manager, it is probably best to take on more customer-facing roles first, such as product management.</p>
<p>I’ve done project management a couple times as project lead but found that it really does not lead to more advancement or money. The only benefit other than the parking tag is less likelihood of layoffs… Also management does a lot more travel and overtime that is not paid, while us engineer peons get either extra vacation or real OT pay if we’re asked to work super overtime.</p>
<p>Real managers are born, just like real engineers or developers.</p>