Any regret for getting into management or vice versa

[SteveR]

...  Perhaps the better course would be to save your money while you're young, and rather than FIRE (if it's even possible by age 30-35) elect to launch your own business where you're the boss.  Management is a whole lot different if you're the one with the ultimate decision-making authority (as well as the one collecting the big $$$).  The worst that can happen is that you discover you're not suited to being an entrepreneur, and you head back to the cubicle...

One downside to this might be getting off the corporate ladder and losing your place in the pecking order for the better managment jobs. Most companies I have worked at in management expect you to work you way up the ladder and leaving the workforce to start you own business and then running back to Mega Corp. to get back on the ladder does not sit well with upper management most of the time.

If you leave to be your own boss but your business fails you could be far worse off than if you never left. Just something to consider.

()---Great job! I have "been there and seen that" more times than you can imagine. One of my memorable events was the big budget cut that took out 20% of the workforce and 90% or our expense bugets all while our production volume was going up 40%. We could not make the product without the people and we were stealing office suppliers from each other. Everyone put padlocks on the pencil and paper cabinets. As I recall, the CEO and his "boys" all got a 40% pay hike, 25% bonus and God knows how much in stock options for making their numbers. The end result was loss of market share because we could not supply enough product at the promised time due to budget cuts we were forced to take despite telling those turkeys what would happen. Oh, and they fired the GM at the plant because he did not make his product on time.

 

[Spanky]

I tried to get my son to go into this field but he has no interest in that kind of work.

I am trying to do the same to my daughter. However, she wants to do something more exciting. I guess I need to be more convincing.

 

[Brat]

I am trying to do the same to my daughter. However, she wants to do something more exciting. I guess I need to be more convincing.

If she has the skills and interest for the field help her understand that pharmacology isn't limited to dispensing pills. It can be an exciting field with lots of options. SteveR might be able to suggest folks for her to meet.

 

[Spanky]

Hi Brat,

I am suggesting that she gets a summer job as an assistant at Walgreens. We could also arrange a visit to the hospital at which my nephew works as a clinical pharmacist.

Anyway, her interest lies in engineering or science. She excels in AP math and science classes and scores a 99% percentile in both ACT and SAT.

Spanky

 

[JonnyM]

Regret?

Some, in my case it was a self defense move. The long time person Senior too me was basically a Manager in the tital role of a Senior Technical Job Description that IMHO she never actually had the MQ's to qualify for, but that's another story. So to have any control over my own destiny for my final 3 years in the work place, it was either compete and likely get the position, or let someone junior to me, or worse yet, some unknown come in and run the show for my last bit of career.

I went from problem solving of things to problem solving of people. I didn't truely enjoy the tranisition, although with the help of sage advice from DW who did this sort of thing for some years in her past with great success I was ultimately successful as well. I just don't enjoy managing people nearly as well as problem solving of more inantimate objects.

Still all in all, it was a promotion at just the right time to slightly enhance my final DBP ER payout, and therefore worth the sacrifice. Whine, sniff, cry...

 

[Nords]

Scott Berkun on managers

Just in time to join the discussion, a former Microsoft manager has this advice:

Common good reasons to become a manager include:
You’re ready for more responsibility
You are interested in leading and teaching others
You’ve excelled at a specific role and want to help others do the same
You like setting people up to succeed

Common Bad reasons include:
Because your boss said so
To make your mother proud
To buy that new Maserati GranSport
To have less work to do (it’s rarely true)
To make people suffer in living hell forever

Here's the rest of the article.

 

[Howard]

I think many of us got pushed into the position because if we did not take it, someone else would and we needed to take the step to control, our destiny.

I was a very highly commissioned sales Person, but I figured some one new coming in would either cut my income or cut me, to save money?

All in all, it worked out very well, my career ended sooner than I wanted, but that's life.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I got into management once because I got caught reading a magazine with my feet up on my desk while listening to a boring meeting that was in a room about 10' away because I didnt want to have to spend a couple of hours looking interested. I was tapped on the shoulder and turned to see my boss and his boss, who the day before had sent out a memo about not dialing into meetings in the same building to avoid having to physically 'attend'.

After I landed back in the chair, with bemused smiles, they asked if I'd take over his group as he was moving to another facility. I figured I didnt have much standing to say 'no'...

 

[Mr._johngalt]

I'm a control freak, especially if there is money involved.
Thus, I was probably destined for management from the get-go.

JG

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

The cute and fuzzy bunny thinks thats a lot better than the unemployment line...

 

[Spanky]

Re: Scott Berkun on managers

Just in time to join the discussion, a former Microsoft manager has this advice:

Common good reasons to become a manager include:
You’re ready for more responsibility
You are interested in leading and teaching others
You’ve excelled at a specific role and want to help others do the same
You like setting people up to succeed

Common Bad reasons include:
Because your boss said so
To make your mother proud
To buy that new Maserati GranSport
To have less work to do (it’s rarely true)
To make people suffer in living hell forever

Here's the rest of the article.

Nords,

Thanks for the link - I am looking forward for part 2.

Spanky