Jeremy Trips

Where I share about my journey in tech and life.

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Why Managing is Harder Than Coding (To me)

For the past year, I’ve been managing a small team—starting with 2 developers and growing to 5. All of them are interns or juniors. It has been a real pleasure working with them. I enjoy being part of their learning, helping them grow in IT, and also meeting people from different backgrounds with different ways of solving problems.

I have always liked sharing my knowledge. When I was working at the university, my favorite part was the academic duties. Of course, the situation now is very different. Teaching is not my main job anymore. But over time, I realized I spend most of my time helping others with their problems.

I think there are two main reasons for this. First, they are juniors, so it's normal that they face problems that will become easier with more experience. Second, I’m still learning how to plan and manage projects. Right now, I can’t always predict every issue that will happen during development.

The hardest part for me is not solving the problems. The real challenge is keeping all the project context in my head. When someone needs help, I have to stop what I’m doing, understand the issue, and try to fix it. It's very overwhelming. Even more difficult is getting interrupted while I'm focused on my own work.

For the last two months, I’ve started closing Discord—our communication tool—during work sessions. It really helps me stay focused. But sometimes, when we are in the office, people still ask questions and interrupt my work.

I’m thinking of a few solutions:

  1. I will set “focus time” blocks—3 or 4 hours where I ask everyone not to disturb me.
  2. I will improve my project management skills—by taking some courses and also by accepting that my role is changing. I’m not just a developer anymore; I’m also a manager.
  3. (Probably a third solution will come to my mind later.)

Anyway, last Wednesday, when everyone went on holiday, I felt a big relief. Knowing that next week, all the problems I will face will be mine.