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I have started a career as software engineer and I just got promoted to management. I am deeply enthusiastic about it and I am very determined to move to upper management during the next 10 years. But it seems that there is a lot more middle managers than directors, vice-presidents and executives; and not only in the software industry, but every industry. So I feel that this move will be extremely challenging. I met middle managers from different industries, aged from 30 to 40 years old, who claimed they weren't learning anything new...

In order to make this move: is a MBA or executive MBA required? Would you advise to work 1 or 2 years at consulting companies like McKinsey? What are the hard and soft skills required and how to acquire them? How and what to keep learning after 30 years old? And what do you need specifically to make this move in the software industry?

Brainless
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    Not an answer, but illustration of the principipal behind most promotions : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle – Thorst Jun 22 '15 at 09:15
  • Is this "Peter principle" verified in reality? Or is it just a joke? – Brainless Jun 22 '15 at 09:50
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    @Brainless The good thing about good Wikipedia articles is they have links to back up their claims. Follow the links on the linked article to decide for yourself what to make of the claims. – Brandin Jun 22 '15 at 10:12
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    This really depends on the company. Different companies have very different strategies for choosing who to promote to which position. – Philipp Jun 22 '15 at 10:13
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    @Brainless If you cannot recognize Peter principle at work around you, then you're not ready for a career. Worse, you insist on calling move from an engineer to a manager "promotion", which it's not. Peter would call it "lateral arabesque". The only thing you got right is that the move will be difficult - that's because upper and lower management deal with completely different issues. – Agent_L Jun 22 '15 at 10:34
  • Voting to close your question as way too broad. Having said that, check as many profiles as you want on Linkedin and answer your own questiobs. If you need any clarifications or need to ask more questions, contact the owners of these profiles on your own. Or ask your question on whatever Linkedin groups they are in. The term "software industry" is awful all-encompassing. – Vietnhi Phuvan Jun 22 '15 at 12:54
  • @Brainless: WRT the Peter Principle, you really need to ask yourself why an intelligent company would 'promote' a competent software engineer to management, when the positions need entirely different skill sets? Software engineers are harder to find than middle managers, even ones with degrees in management. – jamesqf Jun 22 '15 at 22:43
  • You might also ask yourself whether your promotion might not have been an instance of the Dilbert Principle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert_principle – jamesqf Jun 23 '15 at 19:21
  • What I meant about the Peter principle is that it's an oversimplification of reality. Reality is way more complex... Maybe a promoting someone to a job in which he will underperform can happen, but I don't think it happens when it's about promoting a senior manager to vice president in a middle or big company for example. So thanks for the comments, but I expected a more in depth answer, with testimony from people who experienced such promotion. – Brainless Jun 25 '15 at 15:05

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Different companies have very different strategies for how to choose people for promotions. Among the many factors which might or might not play a role are:

  • Formal qualifications. There are companies which don't promote anyone who doesn't have the right educational achievements. Sometimes they also prefer specific institutions or require good grades, sometimes it's just the paper slip that counts.
  • Performance in the current role. Do a good job, and you are rewarded with promotion after promotion until you have a job your are underqualified for. Then you stay there.
  • Subjective impression of your leadership skills. See also the question "Why is it important to gain visibility in the workplace?"
  • Having good personal relations with the right people. Some organizations are lead by cliques of friends who rope each other into the right positions. When you happen to be in such a company, sucking up to the right people is the only way to advance.
  • Taking part in internal career programs. Some companies have specific training programs to assess and train employees interested in leadership positions.
  • Performance during a strictly formalized application process with tests, interviews and assessment centers.
  • Discrimination against or favoritism for certain minorities. In theory this is often illegal but in reality it is still happening. No matter how awesome your management skills are, when you are, for example, a black, muslim woman in a company lead by chauvinistic, christian, white-supremacists, they will always find a reason to not promote you (or promote you to somewhere where you are deemed to fail).
  • Just plain luck

We can not tell you how your company prioritizes these factors. You need to find that out on your own by getting into contact with the career decision makers in your company.

Community
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Philipp
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  • You did not need to provide an example of what you meant by "where you are". You would have been better off explaining that if you are a minority in a workplace, due to the human psychology of putting more trust in those who are more closely like yourself, you are less likely to be picked for a promotion. I find your references insulting. – Professor of programming Jan 05 '17 at 01:42