Moving up the Ladder (unintentionally)

This week we have been discussing what it is like to move up to management positions from a geek working position. It is a very different realm of work when this occurs, often times people are promoted to these positions because their boss quit, they are being reviewed by their past accomplishments and projects, or they volunteered. These are the worst reasons to become a manager. it takes skill to know how to manage technical people and do well at it.

When Managers come up from being a basic employee they soon realize quickly that they are not prepared for what they had gotten themselves into. in this video Jenn is not quite prepared for what is to come.

http://youtu.be/59C6fEAYPY4?t=25s

In this Clip Jenn had applied as a manager over IT, being a new manager she did not receive support, because she was a new manager, as well as she did not know much about computers. The already working IT employees do not like her because she is new, and they don’t want a new person above them. as the show continues Jenn learns more about IT but still needs help, she learns but never really gains support on how to manage geeks. Jenn likes to portray herself as a geek so that she would get the job at Renholym Industries as the manager, she is not really a geek by knowledge but she is in terms of how she interacts with the other employees. She does not like having to interact with them like Moss and Roy don’t.

When Geeks climb the ladder they’re having to learn how to manage from the start, they don’t have anyone explaining how to manage. They have to go and figure it out on their own. That can be really hard for a geek that has just been promoted. Managers have to communicate between two groups, the other managers and higher up, and the geeks that work for them. The two groups don’t generally understand each-other, both groups understand in a certain way. The new manager has to learn to communicate different ideas to the two groups in different ways.

Geeks and Suits have different ways of understanding things. as Geeks move up the ladder the harder it becomes, sometimes they have to lose all of their tech skills to become what the company wants them to be, but sometimes they don’t but have to communicate well with suits still. in the end Suits are generally better managers because they have done it over longer periods of time unlike geeks volunteering for an open position.