In 2022, after seven years as an Engineer, I made the switch to Engineering Management. I always knew I wanted to be an Engineering Manager, also known as an EM, but thought I’d be much older. I didn’t have much exposure to first-line managers in their 20s and 30s and thought that age would give me an air of credibility for leading a team.

At 29 years old I had leadership experience, but was that enough to help me thrive as an EM? Especially at a company as notable and far-reaching as Spotify. Would I sink or would I swim?

Well… it’s nearly three years after I made the switch and I can assure you the transition was right for me. I could not be happier with my change in role. But how did I get here?

My career history is broken down into three main phases:

1. The Beginning: Fresh out of college working as a Software Engineer at IBM in Austin, Texas.
2. The Middle: Working as a Frontend Engineer then subsequently leading a design systems team in Karlsruhe, Germany.
3. The Present: Working as a Frontend Engineer at Spotify in Stockholm, Sweden, then transitioning into management.

The Beginning

After graduating university with a Bachelors degree in Computer Science and a minor in business, I moved from New York state down to Austin, Texas to begin my first full time Software Engineering role.

I joined IBM Spectrum Control and worked on the client side building software for enterprise storage systems with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Dojo.

Let’s just say… I wasn’t the strongest Engineer, but I was certainly a victim of the Dunning-Kruger effect (people with low competence in a particular area overestimate their ability or knowledge, while highly competent individuals tend to underestimate theirs).

I struggled my way through this role until my manager pulled me into her office one day and said “I can see you’re struggling and perhaps not so passionate about the work you’re doing. What do you think about learning web accessibility to make improvements to the product?” She was right; I wasn’t passionate about enterprise storage systems. But honestly… it probably doesn’t excite most engineers (I still can’t tell you what a Fabric is).

So I took on the task of improving the accessibility of our products. I learned about ARIA and screen readers. I learned about keyboard navigation and contrast ratio. It was a great role for me! But after a while I again began to lose passion.

My manager once again pulled me into her office and said “I can see you’re not so motivated with the type of work here. Would you like me to support you in looking for another role?”

I was shocked honestly. She was the first full-time manager I’d had and she was one of the best to this day. It takes a great manager to say “I see you, and I support you.”

So after a quick job search I found a new role on a design team at IBM. This team was quite cool because they didn’t work on a singular project, but instead worked on many different types of projects.

As the sole Engineer I was tasked with building coded prototypes and building out websites. I worked on Linux on Power Developer Portal using WordPress. I worked with Salesforce and their design system. And most notably I built out the original IBM Quantum website using Vue.js (which I’d never used before!) I truly enjoyed my time on this team but admittedly found career growth to be difficult. My manager wasn’t technical and as a director was far removed from the day-to-day operations.

So after three years at IBM I left and moved to Germany to begin a new life and career.

The Middle

In 2018 I joined LogMeIn (now GetGo) in Karlsruhe, Germany as a Frontend Engineer building GoToMeeting. We built the product using React which was a fun, new challenge as I’d previously only worked with Vue.js and Angular JS.

But after about a year I began to get antsy again. Why wasn’t I enjoying coding? I then began a venture to create a design system that spanned the suite of products LogMeIn was building. It quickly became a passion of mine.

I traveled Europe and the U.S. speaking at conferences about design systems and leadership. I created courses for Frontend Masters and LinkedIn Learning about tech and career. And I started a podcast with my friends. My side projects were thriving.

But during this time I went through a heavy transition in my personal life and made the decision to find a new role.

All of these things were happening during the COVID pandemic. While quarantined in my apartment I began to see that many folks were losing their jobs. I had just interviewed for and accepted an offer at Spotify. It was my dream job and I was so excited to move to Stockholm and begin anew. But could I put my knowledge and experience to good use?

So I wrote and published a book called “De-Coding The Technical Interview Process” where I shared my knowledge of computer science and the technical interview process.

Then, it was time to move to Stockholm.

The Present

It’s been five years since I moved to Stockholm and Spotify and I couldn’t be happier. I originally joined one of the teams building the Desktop + Web Player applications as an Engineer. I loved my job. I built many cool, new features in the year and a half I was an engineer.

But sixth months after moving to Stockholm I met my now husband and we quickly had our first child. I was on parental leave for nine months in 2022, and it was during this time I found out that my team was expanding from one to three and there was a new manager position open. I interviewed for the role and got the job! When I returned from my parental leave, I returned as an Engineering Manager.

Of course returning to your job in a new position during a recession poses some challenges but I can say with certainty it was the best decision that’s ever happened to me.

Now I’ve been at Spotify for five years, a manager for three, and have a wonderful husband and two children.

We’ve also revived our podcast, The Ladybug Podcast, for a seventh season focused on Engineering Leadership!

I can’t wait to share more of the knowledge I’ve gained over the past three years with you all.

I welcome you to commit to lead with me.