This needed a thread of it's own...

Don't you hate it when your boss makes decisions that don't make sense due to knee-jerk reactions... and ultimately, you're held accountable even though you had no say in the decision making process at all?

I just got a call from one of my staff and apparently, my boss' boss comes through and completely flucks up our plan completely because production was low... Meanwhile, this week was designed to be a calculated production hit as we are focusing on the worst producing inventory... Now, next week which was supposed to be our production savior is going start off crappy AND we will be forced to re-adjust the plan to minimize the ripple effect that is now GUARANTEED to hurt us later in the campaign.

It makes me want to kick myself in the nuts... Much less painful than the damage control I'm going to have to go through...

i say kick your boss' boss in the nuts...
you may not have a job anymore, but you would feel better about it.

Sometimes I just want to tell him what a stupid fluck he is.

boss's suck

You know it's a requirement to turn in your brain when you get to higher management right

I hate upper level managers that meddle where they needn't be. " Well I better get down there and show'em how its done" F ing retards

Seems that way a lot of the time... I am exceptionally good at justifying my decisions so generally they leave me alone... This stuff ONLY happens when I am not there... Sorta sucks that my immediate boss lacks my gift of gab, otherwise we'd be covered.

I am so not going to be that guy... The next step in my path is to the bottom of the upper level... Luckily, my boss who's currently in that position doesn't do chit like this... I refuse to as well...

My general thing with my people is simple... If you can justify your decision with well thought out reasoning, I'll support you as best I can... If you're wrong, I'll step in for damage control... If you're just making decisions without proper consideration, then you're on your own... and I'm totally up your ass.

I am trying to figure out whether or not I want to change my major. I am currently electrical engineering but kinda want to change to engineering management. within a short time a lot of grads from here move up into management, so my thinking is why don't i just skip the first couple years of actually engineering and get a head start to the top.

Here's the deal with being a manager...

Everybody hates you. Even the people who like you, hate you. You have to have balls. Puzzy managers never do chit... You need to not be afraid to make decisions that will piss everyone off... cause you will. Passive personalities and people who fear confrontation tend to not be as successful...

Communication skills are an absolute must... If you can't defend your people, you and them, will get chit on all the time... Especially in a bigger corporate environment... Playing the game is a must... Even if you completely despise office politics, you will have to play them.

Everything is your fault. Get used to it. You're people fluck up, that's your fault. You fluck up, it's your fault. Something flucks up that you looked at, it's your fault. People above you make decisions that result in something in your world flucking up... guess what... It's your fault.

You want positive feedback? Look elsewhere... The higher up you get, the less you hear about how good of a job you are doing. Problems take priority over wins... Those who are motivated by frequent recognition, generally would be miserable as managers.

However, there are some perks...

Control. It's really nice to be able to choose your own destiny... Most of the time, sink or swim... It's all you... I enjoy the responsibility and the reward of knowing we succeed because of the decisions I've made... because of the decisions my people made (whom I developed to make good decisions).

Work. For the most part, you do less as a manager. The trade off is, you are responsible for more. Less physical 'doing stuff', more administrative/analysis/justification/BS'ing... If you hate sitting in the office, talking on the phone, and long periods of racking your brain over operational issues... management is not for you.

Speaking of the work part... Work does not end at 5pm... or whatever 'quittin time' is... You're always on... and need to always be available. I've gotten calls at 4am from managers under me who have emergency situations and I have to cover for them... So despite the fact that I was there for 12 hours the day before, bang! I'm back in for another 14 hours the next day.

Money. There's a ton of money in management... You just have to get there. Entry level and middle management is usually low paying... You start making money when you start moving up... In the technical rhelm, you'll make more as a non-manager most likely... or you won't make much more as a manager... again, that all depends on how far you take it...

ok so i just got on the univeristy website and checked the average salaries for EE and E-Man. EE bachelors is 83K, masters is 95K, and doctorate is 102K. These are average for everyone, not just new hires. E-Man starting is 53K. I think I am sticking with EE.

Good on ya Trock, In my personal experience the college grad that jumps right into managment gets no respect. You gotta do some time in the trenches first. Kinda like in the military, a Warrant officers get much more respect than regular officers usually.

Take some management classes on the side, it will help in your end goal

Well said, there is no doubt in this statement.

I started over 53k and you don't want to know what I make now. Given I work a lot of overtime to get it up there.

Thats all dependent of the market you work in. Engineers in MI make less than Engineers in CA.

Cost of living makes a HUGE difference in income.

Truth... Starting in the trenches also gives you a true appreciation for what your people are responsible for and the challenges that they face. That is HUGE in holding people accountable...

Recognize though that even if you've been there/done that, if you are on the fast track people will be reluctant to follow you... However, there's a very cool thing called referent power... What that is, is basically your ability to make people like you.

Honestly, my people do what I tell them to do, less because they know they have to, and more because the want to please me. It's very rare that I've had to write someone up, or even fire them, and they haven't walked out of the office feeling good (as good as you possibly could in those situations)... With charm and wit, you can manipulate your people to do what you want them to do and very rarely having to drop the hammer on them... Motivation is an interesting thing... It's either the cookie, or the stick... Which would you prefer?

Referent power will get you further than anything IMHO...

I am planning on at least minoring in E-man or business.

Not a bad idea... If they are offered, take communications classes... I've never taken one, but my sister who majored in communications taught me a lot... Very interesting stuff...