Context: I’m a senior manager for a unicorn startup. I spent the first half of my career as an software engineer, and co-wrote a technical book about some of that work. I’ve been paid professionally to write C, Python, PHP, JavaScript, and Java, but FWIW I’ve never held the title “Staff Engineer”.

Basically, I never imagined an article titled “yes, experience in a particular stack is probably material to your success at another company” would make for an interesting or even controversial take.

(To be clear, I would and have hired many people with different $technology backgrounds. It’s not a blocker. But I wouldn’t dismiss it either.)

Liability.

We are. We’re just also engineers.

If every (engineering) manager or director you know around you is also a trained engineer... you're the exception, not the norm.

In the Bay Area it’s pretty standard, I’d say. Be surprised if there were any at a Bay Area tech company without any engineering in their past.

Unless you mean something specific by “trained”. Like most Software Engineers, I’m not a PE nor did I undergo any specialized training. Pretty much just have Maths and CS degrees and lots of work experience.

Have you never met a business-school alumnus/alumna that had zero knowledge about the craft of software engineering and software development, still getting a management position?

That is sad, especially wrt the effects on the team mood.

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To be fair, same goes with a software engineer turned manager without any guidance, landed there by sheer inertia.

I’m aware of the concept but haven’t encountered it in any Bay Area company - my work experience is across a bunch of startups here and I have contacts at FAANGs and midsize.