Managers at tech companies have a particularly complicated set of tasks to master on any given day. You're expected to be a technical wizard, easily helping workers to solve issues and locate work-arounds. Your role may also require you to have customer-facing responsibilities, which means you may be fielding phone calls and submitting tickets. On the backend, managers also attend meetings with their colleagues, where they discuss meeting metrics, company growth, and other expectations. Even though you are expected to know a lot, there is probably even more that you haven't considered. Here is what every manager in the tech industry should know about their positions.
Your Team's Metrics Are Always Measured Closely
Tech company managers are generally put in charge of groups of people, called teams, who work together within a given department, on a project, or even for a special event. The reason for creating teams is so that there can be adequate oversight over the tasks delegated and responsibilities given to all staff. At the end of the day, if there is a delay on a report, product, or other goal, having teams means that no one person can be assigned blame. Additionally, assigning teams with various people responsible and working together also means that they can combine resources and push through to meet deadlines. While the end results may be most critical, your team's metrics will be measured closely as a way of calculating your effectiveness as a manager.
Upper Level Management Will be Looking to Eliminate Redundant Roles
Whether you are a newly installed manager or have been recently tasked with finding and eliminating a position, understanding redundancy is important. Sometimes, a company can have too many workers assigned to a single role. Moreover, some roles have basic responsibilities, all of which can be completely in a short period. With recruitment outsourcing, you can communicate the exact number of roles, as well as the standards each new hire has to meet, and have your request fulfilled fast. Working with NH Global Partners will make gaining new talent a breeze, as this company only attracts the best prospective hires in the technology field. Trust them with your recruitment, outsourcing, and hiring needs.
More Educational Opportunities and Requirements
Whether you have a master's degree or already go to educational seminars regularly, your superiors are going to focus even more on education. The management at successful technology companies are growing and evolving, just as the companies they represent. There might be a conference that you attend where you learn how to communicate better with your team, or an event designed for networking and brand building. As a manager, the name of the game is managing it all.
You're Going to be Asked to Do More with Less
In good times and bad, managers are instructed to make the most out of the resources that they have. This is going to happen to you, even when it is clear that you are working from a disadvantage. For example, you may express to your supervisor that the current company handbook does not adequately describe when and where staff can take their lunch break. You could be told that the company handbook needs to be updated, but if it is going to take another month to be updated, you're still going to have to manage your workers in the interim.
New Hires Are Going to Have to Transition Quickly
The process of bringing a new hire in starts during the applicant screening process. Consider whether you are part of the process from the start, the middle, or the end. Regardless, your company expects you to be able to discern great candidates from potential dead weight. This means that your job is to judge how well all new hires are adjusting and meeting expectations. After 30 days, are they able to do their jobs with minimal supervision and correction? At their six-month review, are they hitting all their metrics or do they need to be coached further? And if there are major concerns or issues with any new hires, are you bringing this to the attention to upper-level management, or are they finding out through other means? These are some of the questions that good managers should be asking themselves.
Your Reports Always Require More Details
Managers often keep notes on everything. They have notes for each interaction with members of their team, and they jot up notes when updating customer records. During meetings, managers are expected to maintain detailed sets of notes going over what they learned and communicated. More than likely, you will also be responsible for producing reports to go to your superiors. These reports might cover some of the responsibilities of your co-workers, too, as you will be working with them as a team as well. You could include every critical detail you are able to remember, but more information is going to be necessary. Supporting facts in the form of documentation, attached graphs, footnotes, and other metrics have to be included with each company report. In other words, add more details even if you think there are plenty.
Bigger Bonuses, More Often
Yearly, quarterly, and even holiday bonuses are almost always expected when you are at a managing level position. A lot of the bonuses you get will be based on performance. Companies are expected to get bigger, to grow and become more influential over time. As managers become more knowledgeable, more experienced, and increase their tenure, they too anticipate larger bonuses. If you are promoted, you may also be entitled to an increased number of bonuses. On the other hand, you cannot stop producing, growing, and showing better judgement if you want the bonuses to increase.
Working from Home and Work-Related Travel
Frequent travel, extra work hours, and work flexibility is expected from managers. If you start off working out of the office 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, you may also need to work over the weekend during busy times. If a new office opens within a 50-mile radius of your home, you might have to drive there a few times a week. Travel for work conferences and meetings may also be one of your responsibilities as time goes on. Expect to be able to work from home just as often as you are expected to travel near and far for work purposes, as these are a manager's duties.
Management positions are valuable within the technology field because they are responsible for maintaining accountability across the board. A single operations manager would be responsible for consulting with the heads of all departments, ensuring that no task or project falls by the wayside. Their roles are tough and they are expected to perform to the highest standards, but they have a lot of helpful tools.
First and foremost, managers in the technology field are masters of time management, scheduling, and calendar resources. Syncing a work calendar to a smartphone would not be a problem for any of them. They're also capable of sending and responding to emails quickly, logging into company websites to update information, or of looking for help online if they need it. Managers in other fields may have their own developed skill sets, but tech experts still have the biggest possible advantage.
