Should Engineering Managers Code? (with AI or not)

Let's be honest on this question, assuming that you're not in a leadership interview with Amazon, but close your eyes and ask yourself truthfully:

Should engineering managers actually write code?

Don't get me wrong, I love this post David Anderson shared with all of us about a couple of years ago. That said, If you're an EM, you've probably really wrestled with this one yourself. You got into tech because you love building things, right? But now, your role is different. So, what's the deal?

What's my take? I often share this with engineering leaders on my team, I don't think there's a black-and-white answer. It’s less about a strict "yes" or "no" and more about where your unique, high-impact value truly lies now.

Story Time - All Aboard the Leadership Ship

You know that classic image of the ship's captain? If the passengers and crew (your team!) see the captain constantly swabbing the decks or down in the engine room tinkering (that's you, deep in the IDE for hours!), they're going to get a little nervous. Who's actually steering, watching for icebergs (no pun intended, I like Delta Lake too), and making sure everyone gets to the destination? Product managers, you’re right there on the bridge too, co-navigating and ensuring that destination is the right one!

It’s a simple way to look at it, but it nails a core truth: your primary job as a leader is to guide the journey and ensure the whole crew is effective and heading in the right direction.

So, What's an EM Supposed to Be Doing?

If not primarily coding, then what? Well, your new "codebase" is the success of your team and the impact of your products and business (why do you think impact is an important leadership traits in most tech companies leveling guides?).

Your focus shifts to these three buckets:

• Nailing the Big Picture and Execution: This is all about shaping the vision, laying out a clear roadmap, and making sure your team is executing effectively and delivering real impact, focused business impact. You're the architect of what gets built and why.

• Building and Growing Your Awesome Team: This means hiring great folks, yes, but also mentoring and growing them, creating a culture where they can thrive, and helping them level up. Your people are your greatest asset with the highest ROI.

• Driving Highest Bar on Operational & Engineering Excellence: This is your table stakes, do not build anything on the shifting sands. Think architecture improvements, incidents management, fostering CoEs and learning culture, streamlining processes, knocking down roadblocks (for everyone, not just yourself!), and fostering an environment where quality and speed can coexist.

These are HUGE jobs, and they demand a ton of focused effort, not to mention those crucial "soft skills" – empathy, killer communication, and solid decision-making.

Okay, So Where DOES Coding Fit In?

This brings us to the heart of it. If those are the big rocks, where do your coding fingers get their chance?

The magic question is really:

Where are you spending your time?

Your time is hands-down your most valuable asset. I love the way Apple talks about Dynamic Caching in their M3 chips (yes, the example as nerdy as it gets) – how it smartly allocates just the right amount of memory for each task in real-time. Leaders need that same mindset! You've got to consciously "cache" your precious hours on the stuff that gives the biggest bang for the buck for your team and the business.

When that urge to jump into the code hits (and I get it, it’s strong!), pause and ask:

"Is this line of code the absolute best, highest-leverage thing I can do with my unique position right now to propel my team and our goals forward?"

Often, an hour spent unblocking three engineers, refining strategy with your PM/PM-T, or coaching a team member will multiply your impact far more than an hour spent in the IDE.

Position Yourself as the Ultimate Utility Player, Cheerleader, and Force Multiplier!

• Force Multiplier: This is your prime directive! Your job is to make your entire team more effective, more productive, more awesome.

• Utility Player: Yes, you fill gaps, but strategically.

• Cheerleader: Absolutely – keeping morale high and celebrating wins is key!

So, code only if it's a genuine top priority for you AND the absolute best way to help your team right now. For example, in a lot of cases where an engineering manager spends most of their time coding and reviewing PRs, before that might be absolutely needed to win the first call back. But, do yourself a favor and being brutally honest with yourself.

But Hey, How does AI Change this? Let's Talk Vibecoding

And let's be real: sometimes it's fun to code! Many of us got into this field because we enjoy the creative problem-solving of programming. We're seeing this cool trend of vibecoding where everyone, even best PMs and business leaders, are getting their hands dirty building quick prototypes and exploring ideas. That's fantastic!

Coding a Proof of Concept (PoC) to quickly explore an idea or understand a new tech? Awesome. It can be super insightful and, yes, fun. But let's also acknowledge that for most business-critical applications, that PoC is often just the first few steps of a much longer journey. The last mile to get it "production-ready" – robust, scalable, secure, maintainable – that’s usually where the deep, end-to-end engineering work your team does comes in.

That’s the kind of coding we’re mainly talking about when we ask if EMs should be doing it as a core part of their role. A PoC can spark the vision; production code delivers it reliably.

A Quick Nod to Our AI "Teammates"

Now - if you read my other articles, you saw this coming. In my mind, manage your AI digital force as how you'd manage your team.

It's interesting, isn't it?

Okay, let's say how we think about guiding our human teams is surprisingly similar to how we need to "manage" and leverage AI tools like LLMs, the clear objectives are essential for both. Understanding their strengths and weaknesses? Yep. Iterating with feedback? Absolutely. It all comes back to being a thoughtful director of resources and intelligence, whether human or artificial, to achieve the best outcome.

Don't just prompt, focus on the bigger picture, help break down bigger problems with solvable pieces, provide feedback, and recognize its contribution. It's not only cool to say "thank you" to your GPT friends like Tim Swinburne would do, it's very much encourage! (though, this is more about help LLMs to help you, where that "thank you" translates to input tokens back in the context window and all that good stuff)

So, What's the Takeaway?

Look, if you're an EM, your main gig has shifted from being the star player-coder to being the coach, strategist, and enabler. Your impact is now measured by your team's success.

Vibecoding is awesome - Use it to build those PoCs if they help clarify vision or if it's just for your own joy and learning – ideally on your own time or on clearly marked, non-critical-path experiments. It keeps you connected.

But when it comes to your day-to-day, be that ship captain. Allocate your "dynamic cache" of time and energy to leading, to multiplying your team's incredible talents, and to inspiring them. That’s how you build something truly amazing – a fantastic team delivering incredible products.

What are your thoughts? How do you and your teams navigate this? Would love to hear!

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