Can an IT Manager Still Be a Technical Whiz?

We recently received a letter from a reader requesting advice. The reader wrote: "How can I become a great manager and still be very technical in the IT field? My passion is being a network administrator, but managing is taking up a lot of my time. I am a manager for configuration and have my A+, Network +, and MCP, and in a few months I'll have my MCSE."

Do you have experiences to share or wisdom to impart that will help the reader? How do you maintain your technical edge when you have to give a portion of your time to managerial duties? How do you prevent your split in responsibilities from giving you a perpetual splitting headache? Write a comment and let us know how you would or already are solving this dilemma.

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I've been in the IT industry for over fiftenn years now and have moved from tech whiz to (hopefully:)) a good IT manager. I think you definitely have to sacrifice technical expertise for management skills and knowledge. Doing 'managerial' jobs takes you away from the day to day tech stuff that kept you on the edge.

Anonymous User May 26, 2005 (Article Rating:

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I'm not in management myself - and always preferred a tech role. But now I am grey and old (an ancient 35) I'm beginning to get combat fatigue from all the new changes and all the new technology. NOT a good sign in IT - as it is inevitable part of being in the business. I imagine being a Manager you can free yourself (to some degree) from this. Sure you need technology awareness to make informed decisions. That is critical, plus its important not to let tech-savy people blind you with "science". But the nitty-gritty can be left who are less jaded - such as the fiesty young wippersnappers who are 26... God, I'm feeling burnt out this morning, whereas the Viagra...?

Anonymous User May 27, 2005 (Article Rating:

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Your technical skills will suffer from time spent in management.

Anonymous User May 27, 2005 (Article Rating:

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I'm a technician that moved to IT Management. My skills have suffered, mostly in the areas that least interested me. I am sure that my staff wonder "how I can be the boss?" when I am not as current as they are. On the other hand, I am more valuable to my firm than techs, thus the rewards are greater. If you are missing full time tech-ing, then perhaps management is not for you.

Anonymous User May 27, 2005 (Article Rating:

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Why not be the best of both worlds. If you are dedicated there is no reason why you should loose any skills on either side. Time is the key, you have to dedicate some of your personal time and get intuned with all the new technology that is being used in your company. There are only 2 ways in this industry up and down. If you want to reach the peak I suggest you sacrifice your personal time. How bad do you want to become the best you can be professionally.?

That is the question you must ask yourself? Do you want to be a PATTI WON or a MASTER JEDI!!!!

Anonymous User May 27, 2005 (Article Rating:

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Yes, you will lose some of you technical. Remember are you there to do or are your there to manage? I have worked for some great managers in the past with little or no technical skills. They were the ones that would focus on getting the answers I needed and removing road block so that I could focus on getting my job done.

Anonymous User May 30, 2005 (Article Rating:

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I have never met a good manager that was also a good techie - they were either one or the other.

From my experience, IT Managers that think they are good technically are deluding themselves. They normally wade into problems unaware of the consequences of their actions and cause more problems than they solve (I have numerous examples of this).

As a techie, I spend all my working day and a considerable part of my personal life keeping uptodate on technical issues and new developments - how can you do this properly if you have to manage a department as well??

If you are a techie, spend your time doing techie things to stay on top, if you are a manager, spend your time on managerial duties and leave the techinical stuff to the techies.

Whatever you do, do it well. It serves no-one to be "a bit of this and a bit of that".

Anonymous User May 31, 2005 (Article Rating:

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I think you need to choose a path. Personally in my last role I was pushed towards doing a management role and that was one of the reasons I left. I just enjoy the tech stuff too much currently. At 34 I'm reinvigorated by a Sys Admin role where almost all my time is spent on just that, I just love it! You need to decide if you are happy to keep on the techie path or if you maybe want more rewards. Also from what I see management jobs are less family friendly with the expectation of extra hrs etc. Certainly my current and previous managers both work crazy hours that I would never do with a young family.
Whether you can learn to get job satisfaction from doing through others is key. Although I 'ran away' to a better techie job I did look into management and read the brilliant 'One Minute Manager' books - I heartily recommend them. Should I ever be considering taking the plunge again I'll definitely be re-reading them.

cstenson May 31, 2005 (Article Rating:

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After having worked in both worlds for some time, I would have to suggest managing a level 2 or 3 help desk is what allowed me the opps. to stay 'technical' while managing a group of seven.

Anonymous User May 31, 2005 (Article Rating:

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As a Tech Mgr, I hire the best in their field for the technical areas I support. The Techies are SUPPOSED to be smarter than me in their field. They are the ones that keep up to the latest technology and training and DO the work. They keep me informed, and with my former knowledge as a techie, and also knowledge of budgets, business process, top-down management goals, I am ultimately the one that makes the bottom line decisions

Anonymous User June 03, 2005 (Article Rating:

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