> To counter-anecdote: I've basically never had a bad manager.
I've never had a bad manager, but I've never had a good one. Or rather I've never had one where I've really noticed what they actually did aside from doing a basic personal assistant / secretary job dealing with administrative paperwork, scheduling meetings, taking notes, conveying status reports between people and teams and tools.
I've never had personal issues with my managers and I've always got along well with them and I don't suggest its their fault that their positions exist. I just don't see the value in having organizations structured in a way that necessitates these roles.
> shielding me from the whims of higher-ups while making sure I don't burn out by encouraging me to take more time off, etc
See this is how they sell themselves, but what it really means is that your engineering firm has whimsical higher-ups who don't understand engineering or even basic people management such that they would kill your productivity and burn you out, forcing the firm to hire another layer of people to protect staff from incompetent upper management.
There could be a grain of truth to it, but it just makes the situation even more ridiculous.
I've never had a bad manager, but I've never had a good one. Or rather I've never had one where I've really noticed what they actually did aside from doing a basic personal assistant / secretary job dealing with administrative paperwork, scheduling meetings, taking notes, conveying status reports between people and teams and tools.
I've never had personal issues with my managers and I've always got along well with them and I don't suggest its their fault that their positions exist. I just don't see the value in having organizations structured in a way that necessitates these roles.
> shielding me from the whims of higher-ups while making sure I don't burn out by encouraging me to take more time off, etc
See this is how they sell themselves, but what it really means is that your engineering firm has whimsical higher-ups who don't understand engineering or even basic people management such that they would kill your productivity and burn you out, forcing the firm to hire another layer of people to protect staff from incompetent upper management.
There could be a grain of truth to it, but it just makes the situation even more ridiculous.