As a software engineer with a lot of experience in the industry, a potential next step tends to be leading engineering teams, that is, becoming an engineering manager.
But what does it mean to be called a software engineering manager? A software engineering manager is an experienced software engineer who chiefly oversees the work of other software engineers on the design and development of software projects.
Because software engineering is more than just writing codes and includes other aspects such as designing, testing, adapting, and implementing software, the management of these processes is critical to the success of any software product.
In this role, your career focus now shifts from creating software products to managing people, including planning and collaborating with people from other teams to ensure that engineering operations are running efficiently and effectively.
While the need for engineering managers is clear, getting started or being effective in this role may pose challenges for some. One of the reasons for this is a limited number of courses created for engineering managers by engineering managers on what they need to learn to succeed.
In this article, you will see a curated list of the best software engineering management courses.
- Becoming an Effective Software Engineering Manager
- Engineering Management Interview Course
- TLT21 – Engineering Leadership and Management
- Practical Team Management for Software Engineers
- Developer to Manager
- Software Development Manager Training
- Master of Engineering Management & Leadership (MEML) Degree
- Software Engineering Management Course
- Software Engineering Management Program
- Masters in Software Engineering Management Online
10+ Best Software Engineering Management Courses Online
1. Becoming an Effective Software Engineering Manager
This self-paced course is designed to make you a world-class engineering manager no matter where you are in your career.
Created by The Pragmatic Programmers on the Educative platform, this course aims to provide learners with practical management skills to become effective software engineering managers.
While problem-solving skills are essential for software engineering managers, you will learn several additional soft skills needed to help you become better at the job. And complete the jump from software engineer to manager through hands-on, practical management advice.
One thing engineering managers do regularly is one-on-one meetings with direct reports. And how effective these one-on-ones are can decide how effective an engineering manager is.
At Zumvie, we have built the best one-on-one tool for engineering managers. Built directly on Jira and a Standalone app, our tool is designed to enhance your one-on-one experience with powerful features to:
- Make flexible notes — more flexible than google docs,
- Create follow-up items,
- View one-on-one meeting history — showing an overview of the previous meetings, etc.
Zumvie is constantly evolving, and there’s much more to it, so if you use Jira, start a trial now! if not check out the standalone app for free.
2. Engineering Management Interview Course
Great engineering managers are leaders and visionaries, building teams and delivering world-changing products across the technology industry. Unsurprisingly, the process of becoming an engineering manager is a challenging one.
With the help of engineering managers from Facebook, Amazon, Stripe, and more, this course was designed to help you ace the engineering management interview process from start to finish with practical examples and strategies from those engineering managers.
This 23 hours course covers management skills, project presentations, systems design with mock interviews to prepare you the best.
3. TLT21 – Engineering Leadership and management
TLT21 is committed to scaling software organizations through high-impact coaching for executives and managers looking to become highly effective engineering leaders. They offer executive coaching and management training by combining leadership coaching with microlearning — to develop required skills and enforce new behaviors, and a community of technology leaders — to share ideas and learn.
The coaching sessions last 60 minutes and are scheduled for every two weeks. They are highly personalized with a track record of increasing numbers in productivity and employee engagement.
4. Practical Team Management for Software Engineers
Offered by Pluralsight, this course is the right pick for a new manager or a manager needing to acquire the necessary skills and guidance for effective team management. It includes topics such as aligning technical tasks with business goals, managing customer expectations, establishing team structure and capabilities, hiring the right people, managing through efficient communication, and encouraging productivity through team processes.
You would need a Pluralsight membership to gain access to the full content of this course. By the end of this course, you will know how to take bold steps in your journey as a new manager or a manager looking to improve your skills with the confidence necessary for your success.
5. Developer to Manager
Because of the drastic shift in career functions and responsibilities from being a software engineer to a software engineering manager can take some time to become an effective manager.
In this course created by Stephen Haunts from Pluralsight, you will learn to decide whether this career move is the right decision for you. And if it is, you will see what you need to know to get started transitioning from software engineer to becoming a successful software engineering manager. This course will teach you the essential management and personal skills that you can use within your team to ensure best practices.
6. Software Development Manager Training
This is another self-paced course to learn about software engineering management.
Created by Steve Padraig, an experienced independent engineering manager, this course will teach you all the secrets to successful software development management and software development lifecycle. The course is divided into four sections:
- Software development manager,
- Team and organization;
- Owner of the definition of done;
- Owner of automation and tools; and
- Owner of the SDLC,
Put together for learners to become champions of high-performing and self-organized teams.
7. Master of Engineering Management & Leadership (MEML) Degree
Engineers can be managers, and fantastic ones at that! This program offered by Rice University — one of the most prestigious universities in the United States — creates a viable channel to learn what it takes to become a fantastic manager. This course will provide participants of this degree program with the engineering leadership, project management, and communication skills to manage their engineering teams successfully.
For you to complete this course, your capstone project requires you to devise “Industry 4.0” solutions to solve real-world problems while demonstrating your newly acquired engineering manager leadership skills.
8. Software Engineering Management Course
Are you interested in learning what it takes to lead and manage your development team on the right track? Then this course designed by the world’s top member organization dedicated to computer science and technology (IEEE Computer Society) is for you.
Chiefly, this course orients you from the fundamentals of software engineering management. You will learn how to:
- Lead a software project planning process,
- Apply principles and processes of software engineering projects,
- Carry out software project reviews and evaluations using best practices, and
- Utilize software engineering management tools.
Through that, you’ll learn to think and act like a software engineering manager.
9. Software Engineering Management Program
Software engineering management can simply be described as a management position in the software industry. This is also a different type of management and is quite in contrast to managing hardware projects.
If you are a software engineer who thinks that your personality and passion might suit better to management and organization, then this course is the right pick for you.
Developed and taught by industry professionals from UC San Diego, this program will equip you with the best business practices for software projects and project management tools and techniques to lead and produce high-quality software products that meet user and system requirements.
10. Masters in Software Engineering Management Online
Software engineering is a field that encompasses more than writing computer programs and codes. There are other various stages in the SDLC, including designing, testing, maintaining, and managing; all these stages are vital for the success of any software product.
In this 11-week online master’s program offered by Strayer University, you will dive deep into the research and modeling stages and explore the entire software lifecycle, testing procedures, and requirements gathering techniques. And at the end of the program, you would have learned the skills you need to successfully lead a team through every stage of a software development process.
Conclusion
Software engineers will always be looking to learn more. These are our take on some of the best courses available to guide you when jumping from software engineer to an efficient engineering manager, the very kind that a development team needs.
There’s so much satisfaction in successfully carrying out a software project from its pre-design stage to the testing and deployment of the final product. Also, becoming a leader in the software industry could prove to be financially rewarding.
