Joining a team without being able to speak to manager
Posted by Moe_H@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 31 comments
How common it is to join team when there is new hiring manager incoming in a few weeks, and I'm not able to talk to them (I already asked)?
Team is good otherwise: work, WLB, TL is chill.
If I say no to team because of this, will it jeopardize for future matches or will recruiter understand?
Constant-Listen834@reddit
Don’t join a job without talking to the manager
smartties@reddit
Karen was right all along
shifty_lifty_doodah@reddit
Don’t do it
windsostrange@reddit
Is there a salary
Say yes to receiving the salary
Thank me
fuckoholic@reddit
...
Profit
PixelsAreMyHobby@reddit
As others said, huge red flag. You don’t know what you sign up for. Did it once. Never again. It was the only time I ever got fired within the probation period (6 months in DE) 🫠
pinktulips95@reddit
Why did you get fired? Were they just a bad manager?
PixelsAreMyHobby@reddit
I won’t dox myself here, but long story short, that manager was a dick.
pinktulips95@reddit
Sorry to hear that. Hope you’re with a better manager now.
JoeHagglund@reddit
Always say yes. You can say no soon after, if need be.
ched_21h@reddit
except finding a new job in the current market may take months, of not a year
markx15@reddit
I had an odd situation such as this too.
I was interviewed for a tech lead position, by the department head, the engineering manager of another team, and the tech lead of another team.
They informed me it was because his daughter had just been born, and he was on leave, but he had reviewed and selected my CV, so at least he knew a little about me. It could have been awkward if we clashed, but luckily we are very in sync ( I accepted the role, which is where, 1 year later, I am at today).
If you accept, my advice is build a relationship with your manager as swiftly as possible once they are there, but be aware it’s a gamble.
Scottz0rz@reddit
Yeah, I had a "hiring manager" screen with a company last week...
The recruiter pressured me to schedule it during my vacation to Barcelona, Spain... so it was at 10pm my time.
The manager who was going to be my manager was shadowing another team's manager who was conducting the actual interview. That manager seemed fairly new, they were recently promoted from IC.
The other manager (who, again, I'm not going to work with) actually didn't really ask many "hiring managery" behavioral questions, they just started the interview and asked me to do a deep-dive into one of my major projects on my resume and do a 30-minute long spiel about the end-to-end lifecycle, business problem to solve, use cases, testing plans, on-call... not much room for me to ask questions and I had no room to really talk to my actual would-be boss. I had 5-10 minutes for questions but yknow I was tired and it was 11pm and I was jetlagged and annoyed I did a technical deep dive from my hotel room.
I ended up passing the interview and they passed me to the next stage, the coding stage, which they also are getting me to do at 9pm while I am still in Spain tomorrow.
If I end up moving towards the offer stage after the next interview rounds (there's 5 total...), if I have competing offers, I'm definitely going to request a call with my actual boss, director, and PM before accepting an offer.
It is a very weird red flag to me to not talk to the hiring manager and understand how the team works before accepting an offer, unless it is a very large company and there are multiple openings and there's a "team matching / tour of duty" kinda soft start when you first get hired.
maybe_madison@reddit
To me it would depend on my would-be 2nd level manager. I’d be inclined to accept if:
birdparty44@reddit
If you’re leaving a job for this it’s worth thinking about. If not, give it a try. Probation is for both employee and employer, usually.
DeterminedQuokka@reddit
It happens sometimes if a team is new. It’s harder to hire a manager than it is to hire an IC.
Although if the person already accepted I feel like they should be able to get you a 15 minute call with them.
When I’ve had this happen it’s that they haven’t found a manager so I’ll get to interview them. This seems like a bad race condition for neither of you to interview the other.
Willbo@reddit
Would you have an arranged marriage with someone you haven't seen before?
joe_sausage@reddit
As a hiring manager and an engineering manager, I always insist that everyone meet everyone they're going to be working with throughout the interview process. Candidates need to meet their team and their boss (usually me and I've usually already screened them), and the team needs to meet the candidate. I ensure that some of them get in at every stage.
I think it's SUPER important.
If everyone's 👍🏻 on you thus far, is there a possibility of you waiting a few weeks and speaking to the new manager? It's not that long of a delay...
Moe_H@reddit (OP)
I think entire team is rare - I have only ever met HM and TL, sometimes just HM.
They will probably proceed with other candidate for this team if I ask for delay. I will go back to team match, but it may be dangerous because 1) I have already had 3 calls and this is only one that interests me, 2) there may not be other matches as good as this.
joe_sausage@reddit
Yeah, tough spot to be in. But nothing but green flags so far?
Moe_H@reddit (OP)
The team seems like it had some pain points in past, they had to let go a weaker manager who caused some churn apparently.
But at the same time, it is a well-positioned team where they are crucial, but not too crucial to invoke poor WLB. With interesting work.
Empanatacion@reddit
I'd ask if you could delay giving an answer until you've had a chance to talk to the new manager once he starts. Make all the right noises about how excited you are about the blah blah.
That's an incredibly reasonable request and actually reflects well on you that you'd make it. And if they've already made you an offer, they're motivated to make the deal.
If that's a deal breaker for them, then that's probably enough red flags to know you did yourself a favor by walking away.
Unless you're out of work right now. Sounds like not.
Moe_H@reddit (OP)
I could try, thanks for the suggestion.
I'm not out of work but the other candidates might be, or trying to escape toxicity. It's a tough market out there.
whatamistakethatwas@reddit
Did they give a reason why you can't talk to them? This is the communication part you're also interviewing the company on.
If you're going through a recruiter you need to communicate that you want to speak with your eventual manager before moving forward. There are a number of reasons why but even something as simple as team fit makes sense.
I know if I was on vacation but someone new was coming on to a new team I'm about to take over I'd want to do a quick 15-20 min chat.
Moe_H@reddit (OP)
I talked to current manager who is a director. They are hiring new L7 manager starting in a few weeks, who they confirmed I cannot talk to as I suppose he is not part of company yet.
In future, I am assuming there will be more managers underneath new L7 too.
philip_laureano@reddit
Without knowing too many details about your situation, it sounds like a red flag if your leadership is too busy to talk to you and explain what the big picture is, why your role is important, and aside from a paycheck, why you should be working for them at all.
If they cannot spend the time to have one on ones with you, then do not be surprised if they get rid of you just as easily.
Beware.
forgottenHedgehog@reddit
I read it that the to-be manager doesn't work for the company yet, not that they don't have any time.
Moe_H@reddit (OP)
I talked to current manager who is a director. They are hiring new L7 manager starting in a few weeks, who they confirmed I cannot talk to as I suppose he is not part of company yet.
In future, I am assuming there will be more managers underneath new L7 too.
tr14l@reddit
It's a gamble, but it's not uncommon. Managers are moving around and what not. It could be a sign of instability, or it could be normal career movement.
serial_crusher@reddit
Huge red flag. You have to be able to mesh with your boss.
kerrwashere@reddit
I joined a team once and they went through multiple managers before things became stable. Would never do that again