How to land a SE Manager position without formal experience?

Question

I am a software engineer with 12+ years experience! I am freelancing for the past 4-5 years and now looking, for several reasons, for a permanent position again!I basically stopped fulltime coding in my projects as a freelancer and mentored, advised and setup processes!Now I am applying for Software Engineering Manager positions, but with no success. 8/10 companies don&rsquo;t even answer and 2/10 told me after 4 rounds of interviews that they chose the candidate with more experience!I feel like I am &ldquo;done&rdquo; with fulltime hands on coding but it seems companies want you to go through their internal career ladder to become a manager!What are recommendations here? If you are a company, I am looking ;)

codingdave · Accepted Answer

Look at your experience in the worst possible way - because that is how hiring companies may see you. You stopped coding, so your are rusty at best. You haven't had a job in 4-5 years. You have no actual managerial experience. So to hire you as a manager, they basically would be giving someone with 5 years of rust on them a shot at doing a job they have never done. That is why they are giving the jobs to other people.I know that take on your history is unfair. But the question you need to answer is how to fix that perception? Did you lead people when freelancing? Did you manage budgets and payroll? Were you accountable for business results? If so, show those things in your resume.

_the_inflator · Answer

So what is your understanding of the role and your motivation becoming a manager?Your remarks are kind of vague. Manager means dealing with people. Have you been in a formal team lead position before?

tyroh · Answer

You probably should set your sights more on becoming a lead developer, where your experience as an engineer will be respected but you can transition into management later on. Also focus on discussing your mentoring experience a lot, including the outcomes you've helped achieve (ex. 200% growth in X, 50% fewer bugs in Y, etc.)
As someone who hires for this role, I look for people who can handle teams well and deliver outcomes, not just code. This means I need to be able to trust you with the careers of the team and the project results.
A good transition is actually consulting on tech teams, which is somewhat a leadership role that will give you the management experience needed later on. More often that not, companies absorb good consultants if they jive well with the team.

eatonphil · Answer

It might be easier to start by applying to companies looking for "tech leads" and let them know you're interested in managing the team immediately or shortly. This is how I got into my first manager position.