From engineer to manager – STANDARD

You were the best engineer on the team. That’s why they promoted you. And that’s exactly why it’s hard now.
Great code doesn’t make a great leader. The ability to solve technical problems doesn’t automatically translate into the ability to lead the people who solve them. Most engineers promoted to management positions fall into the same traps: micromanagement, reluctance to delegate, team conflicts, impostor syndrome, burnout.

This course was created so that you don’t have to learn all of this by trial and error – at the expense of your team, your career, and your health.

The instructor, Krzysztof Wawrzynkowski – CTO of PayPo, has walked this path from engineer to head of technology with nearly 20 years of experience in the industry. He has built, scaled, and leads technology teams under real business pressure. In this course, he shares what he has learned firsthand – no textbook theory, no MBA clichés, no motivational slogans.

What makes this course different

This is a 4-part course designed as a coherent development path – not a loose collection of topics. Each of the four parts builds on the previous one: from the foundation of managerial identity, through team management and communication, to the role of business partner and leader of a mature organization.

What you will gain from the course

  • You will stop being the bottleneck of your team – you will learn to delegate in a way that helps your people grow while you reclaim time for what truly belongs to your role.
  • You will understand what the business expects from you – you will stop being a translator between the “developers’ world” and the “board’s world.” You will become the bridge.
  • You will handle difficult conversations – about compensation, poor performance, termination, role changes – without pretending, manipulating, or losing face.
  • You will build a team that works when you’re not there – instead of a team that stalls without you.
  • You will learn to make decisions with incomplete data – the way every real manager does, instead of hiding behind analysis that never ends.

Who this course is for

  • Tech Leads who have just become (or are about to become) Engineering Managers
  • Senior engineers wondering whether the management track is for them
  • Engineering Managers with 1–3 years of experience who feel they are “swimming”
  • Engineers leading teams without a formal title but with full responsibility
  • People promoted internally who now have to manage their former peers

What you will NOT find in this course

Abstract management models from the 1970s. Frameworks that only work in large corporations. Team-building exercises. Empty motivational slogans. Theory disconnected from the reality of the tech industry.

Additional information

Every course on the platform has been designed with the convenience of participants in mind.

Annual access to training materials on the platform.

Unlimited access to the educational platform.

Certificates in PDF format.

Course plan

The program consists of 4 parts, each forming a complete logical unit (~8h of material + practical assignments and online Q&A sessions). Structured in a logical sequence – from the foundation of managerial identity to advanced leadership challenges.

PART 1: FOUNDATION – Who are you now, really?

Without this part, the rest won’t work.

1.1 – The transition nobody explains to you

  • Why great engineers often become mediocre managers
  • “Maker vs. Manager Schedule” – why your calendar will never be the same again
  • Identity crisis: no longer being the person who writes the best code

1.2 – The role you've just taken on

  • Engineering Manager vs. Tech Lead vs. Team Lead – distinctions that matter
  • What your team really expects from you, and what the leadership does
  • Test: Is the management track for you? (IC vs. manager track)

1.3 – Authority without a title

  • Where respect in a team comes from – and why the position alone is not enough
  • When you manage your former peers
  • The first 30/60/90 days in a management role

Most problems in teams are communication problems.

2.1 – Building the team

  • How to design a team that makes business sense (not just technical sense)
  • IT recruitment: interviews that actually reveal something
  • Engineer onboarding – so they truly get up to speed

2.2 – 1:1s and feedback

  • The 1:1 – the meeting you cannot afford to mess up
  • Feedback that actually changes behavior (instead of hurting)
  • Career paths: senior, staff, principal vs. lead, manager, director

2.3 – Difficult conversations

  • The salary conversation – from both sides of the desk
  • The performance conversation: PIP done humanely
  • Mediating conflicts within the team
  • When and how to part ways with an employee (without drama)

Stop being the narrowest bottleneck of your team.

3.1 – Delegation and your time

  • Why you can’t delegate (and why it’s killing you)
  • The adaptive delegation model – from “do exactly this” to “you have carte blanche”
  • Priorities: the potential × consequences matrix
  • The manager’s calendar – how to design a week that actually works

3.2 – Team rituals and processes

  • Meetings: which to call, which to cancel, which to shorten
  • Standup, planning, retro – when they help, when they get in the way
  • OKRs, KPIs, SLAs – what’s all this for, for engineers

3.3 – Quality and accountability

  • Engineering team metrics that make sense (and the ones that don’t)
  • Incidents and post-mortems – the culture of failure
  • Tech debt: how to negotiate with the business without becoming the “complainer”

Being promoted to manager is the first step. Becoming a businessperson is the second.

4.1 – The language of business

  • How to read a P&L and what it means for your team
  • Product, Design, Sales – how to collaborate with them instead of fighting
  • The roadmap: how to negotiate scope, time, and budget
  • Build vs. Buy vs. Outsource – decisions you will be making

4.2 – Leadership in the AI era

  • AI in an engineering organization – what to delegate to the machine, what to keep with people
  • How the role of the engineer changes as AI takes over repetitive tasks
  • Building resilient and adaptive teams in times of uncertainty

4.3 – The last mile

  • Making decisions under uncertainty (and accepting that sometimes you’re wrong)
  • Managing yourself: burnout, impostor syndrome, the loneliness of the leader
  • Building team culture – what it actually means
  • What’s next: Senior EM, Director, VP, CTO – what the path looks like

Trusted us

Hundreds of participants and companies have already placed their trust in the platform.

Don't delay and add right now
new skills to your resources

Material coming soon...

From engineer to manager – STANDARD

Material coming soon...
Krzysztof „Kris” Wawrzynkowski

Krzysztof „Kris” Wawrzynkowski

Experienced technology leader and manager with nearly 20 years of experience in managing people, projects, products, technical processes, and operations.