Why Management Ladders Should Start Higher for Better Leadership

A manager needs to have certain soft skills that put them on a place where a certain maturity is needed.

A manager needs to be able to communicate well, must have a solid emotional stability and be able to solve conflicts.

As an engineer, you are often expected to, at the beginning of the ladder, meet certain expectations around mentoring, assistance in recruiting/interviewing/on-boarding, comprehension of the domain and business context of your team, and the ability to give relevant feedbacks.

Those skills are the bare minimum for any manager.

The management ladder starts higher to put expectations in both verticals on the same level.

Salaries could be alike as well, depending on business model.

Also, people have strong aversion against being managed by people they may consider “inferior”, which can impact your culture if happens.