I know this is a tad off-topic, but I'm going through something right now that I'm curious if others have gone through or share similar opinions with me(I could just be really biased).

My past experiences with working in companies have been a bit limited. But, I've worked with groups as small as four and as big as about ten developers who were managed by mangers or CIO's that had highly technical background. In fact, the managers were software developers themselves who had been promoted to managing larger group of developers on large and static projects. I always enjoyed working in this type of environment. It was always somewhat relaxed and easy going - as well as non-micro managed. I always thought that a life of a developer was perfect, one works with or without developers on a project and you have to do a status update on the project once in awhile and of course be on time ..deadline wise, but at least you don't have a manager looming over your shoulder. Also, I thought it was always great that I could discuss things with my manager about technical aspects of projects or future projects and either gain some new insight or just enjoy a technical discussion.

But, now I'm faced with a new frontier - I'm actually in a development group that is managed by someone who is technically very knowledeable but who has no actual development or programming experience. I always thought that the manager should know more than those they are managing. My opinion, I thought it would make things easier dealing with projects - with what can and cannot be implemented or what should or should not be implemented. I'm not saying that a non-technical manager can't successfully manage a development group.. but I would think that it would be highly advantagous to have a manager who has a similar background software engineer wise.

I'm just wondering, anyone have any thoughts on this? Am I totally off base that a development group should be managed by a senior developer/experienced developer or maybe that actually has a negative impact to a development group?

In reply to OT: Tech Managers vs. Non-tech Managers.. by LD2

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