Ask HN: Joining Big Tech in One’s 40s
I would not recommend trying to interview as a manager for any large tech company without having first been a manager in another role. I would also not recommend doing this for small startups, but some may be willing to hire you into such a role without you being able to point to concrete experience in the role (the filters aren&#x27;t as strong).<p>I say this because that is personally a cardinal rule of mine, and I&#x27;ve never heard anyone contradict it -- hiring a manager comes with inherent risk, and you significantly add to that risk by hiring someone that hasn&#x27;t done it before. If you want to try out management, you should first get a job as an individual contributor somewhere and then move into a management job in that company. They will know a lot more about you from having worked with you and you will know a lot more about the team, the company, etc and have a much higher chance of being successful.<p>This is really a two-way street, you are much more likely to be successful this way as well. The interview process is simply too artificial to get a good read on how someone will do as a manager when they don&#x27;t have previous experience.