Making the transition to VPE role successfully
I still remember how exciting it was when I first became a VP Engineering. It was the culmination of years of hard work. I was finally here! However, I also remember it being a painful path to becoming a VPE and a lonely experience being a VPE. No one really talks about transitioning to an executive and what that feels like. Afterall, once you become the “big boss” you are expected to know everything; have a solution for everything. And there’s really no one to give you guidance or advice. For me, I had to figure it out from my mistakes. Such was my transition.
As part of Divhersity series “Real Talk with Nidhi” I wanted to explore the tactics that some women engineering leaders have employed to make the transition to a VPE successfully. For this conversation, I sat down with Ushashi Chakraborty, VP Engineering @Wisely; Blaga Lund, VP Engineering @Kustomer and Cindy Chu, VP Engineering @imgx and Heather Broome, Partner @Code Search Partners.
How to get ready for a VPE role:
To start off, I wanted to learn how they prepared for this role. A lot of times, we are hesitant to move upwards in our careers because we simply don’t know what skills are required. A way to think about a VPE role is that it’s similar to a Director role but with a much larger scope and with no training wheels! This is how Ushashi got ready for this role - “As Director, I was working on People, Project, Engineering and Organizational leadership, but at a lesser scope. As VPE, the scope and breadth of my experience increased as all leadership aspects were at an organizational level. I broke down each bucket into what I am naturally good at, what I would need to adjust and what I would need to learn. The main gap was on the Organizational leadership side”. In addition to developing leadership skills at the organizational level, improved communication skills is key to success. After all, a big part of your job is being the spokesperson for your organization. “I had to ramp up on how I communicate on an executive level. Understanding the executive audience and how you can showcase the team’s wins and challenges in ways that are relevant to them is super important. And honestly that spans beyond the exec team, knowing your audience in any scenario is huge.”
So how does one know that they are ready? There’s really no clear line in the sand here. Studies show that women apply for a role if they meet all requirements, whereas men apply for a role if they meet only 60% of the requirements. As this study finds, women don't apply for senior roles as they are afraid of failure. So even if you are not ready, go out on a limb, apply for a role. What’s the worst that can happen? You will get rejected. But at least you will get some precious interviewing experience under your belt! Ushashi provided a great tip on processing a rejection. “Be objective - it is easier than it sounds. I have dealt with rejections many times. There is a fine balance between ‘I have gaps and I will work on closing them and continue trying’ and ‘What they are telling me doesn’t matter and I got this.’ “ You got this. Just go for it!
How to begin exploration of VPE roles:
This is a big challenge, especially if you are trying to move up from a Director position. You likely don’t have a network of executive recruiters. According to Heather, “Lean on your personal network as a critical element in landing your next role. With a personal recommendation, you may not even have to compete for the role like you will when working with a recruiter.” Cindy echoes that point of view. “In your careers you’ve probably met and worked with a lot of people who are looking for VPEs. Reach out to them.” Reaching out to your network has additional benefits. “I ended up interviewing with places where I knew someone there already as a way of vetting the company”, said Cindy.
Now onto the biggest unknown. How do you succeed as VPE:
Once you become a VPE, you are at the top of the totem pole of Engineering. There’s really no one there to give you directions. Your CEO, the exec team and your entire org expect you to have all the answers. You have to be on top of all aspects of engineering leadership - People, Product, Platform, Processes & Projects. More often than not, if your peer or CEO brings something to your attention, it's when it has already become an issue, if not a fire! Given my painful transition, I asked Cindy how rough it was for her. “Well it can be”, said Cindy. “Before imgix I was with my last company through acquisition for almost 8 years so even when I did get promoted I felt like I had a base of having proven myself over that time. When I got to imgix, I was surprised that everyone just assumed I would know what to do. Day 1, I got almost no documentation or goals laid out, I ended up setting my own.” Their advice - surround yourself with a network of peers. This should be your support group that’s there to help you with issues big and small.
Tips on how to succeed and thrive in your new role:
All three of our panelists expressed that so much of this job is not engineering, yet the challenges they face are unique to Engineering. Hence not having an engineering peer to collaborate with, was a big challenge. According to Blaga, “The skills required from being a coder to a VPE are completely different.” Her tip for survival: “Know what you don’t know and bring in the right people to support you.” Another tip on success Blaga shared “I’ve always been a do-er, but at some level it becomes impossible to take on every initiative. I’ve had to become crazy strict on prioritizing how I spend my time.” A key tip shared by Cindy was around delegating. “Put people in place to help you and delegate as much as possible.” Prioritize. And Delegate. Those are the two words that came up over and over in our conversation.
Here are some of my key takeaways from this conversation:
Be the driver of your own growth. Have a clear conversation with your manager on what you need to do to get to VPE. The opportunity may not exist in your company - which is totally fine. But leverage that conversation to understand what it will take for you to “get ready”. Trust me - many of us have to change companies to get this title. While it is easier if you get promoted from within, it is totally achievable for you to go into a new company as a VPE.
Be unapologetically ambitious. Don’t be afraid to ask. And I know that being overly ambitious does not come naturally to us women. In fact, our ambition is often viewed in a negative light. But ignore that. If your org is one that perceives this negatively, then this isn’t the right org for you. You can and should be unabashedly and unapologetically ambitious.
Create a checklist but don’t be its slave. Yes, you need to gain some skills before you think of becoming a VPE. But do you need to have every single one of the checkboxes checked - no. Does that list need to be fully comprehensive - no. Don’t wait until every single box is checked to pursue this role.
Build your support group. You cannot do it alone. You cannot be expected to have all the answers. So create your support group. According to Cindy “I wish I knew how many women VPEs there actually are. Prior to being introduced to the women VPE group that inspired Divhersity, I could count the number of women VPEs I had met on one hand.” And Ushashi summed it up best, “Maintaining a small support group of industry peers at a similar state as me is not just a good to have, but rather a must-have. Prioritize it please!”