Becoming an EM: the loss
Becoming an engineering manager often means losing coding as an 'escape hatch' — Basel Issmail argues that the emotional shift away from hands‑on coding is one of the hardest parts of the transition for new EMs social. He frames that loss as a leadership identity change people should plan for, not an incidental side effect social.
Basel Ismail is listed as CEO and co‑founder of Blockcircle on Crunchbase crunchbase.com and his personal site describes past roles in product engineering and data science at American Express. baselismail.com The X thread referenced in the card appears under status ID 2032373371074208123 on his account (the post series is hosted on X). x.com His public bio and consulting page show he teaches a Springboard course and consults on team design and blockchain projects, indicating he presents advice about team and role transitions beyond single posts. baselismail.com Longer-form industry guidance treats the same identity shift: Camille Fournier’s The Manager’s Path documents the stages engineers face when promoted into people leadership, and Lara Hogan’s Resilient Management gives playbooks for the emotional work of that transition. amazon.com Jellyfish’s 2024 State of Engineering Management surveyed more than 600 engineering professionals and reported that 65% of respondents experienced burnout, a datapoint that leadership transitions and role‑planning efforts often aim to mitigate. jellyfish.co Practical, step‑by‑step advice on reframing a technical identity appears in pieces like LeadShift’s “From Engineer to Manager: Embracing Your New Leadership Identity” and 90‑day EM retrospectives such as LeanIX’s “90 days as Engineering Manager,” both of which outline actionable habits new managers use to redistribute technical time. leadshift.dev
