1:1 with Brooks Swinnerton, Senior Engineering Manager at GitHub

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Sep 23, 2020
• 11 min read

For our ongoing series, 1:1 with Engineering Leaders, Code Climate and Codecademy for Business spoke to managers and VPs about their career journey, leadership strategies, and advice for the next generation of engineers. Below is an excerpt from our conversation with Brooks Swinnerton, Senior Engineering Manager at Github, who shared the value of hackathons, the importance of getting to know your team members, and the most interesting management advice he’s received. Edited for length and clarity.

Tell us about your current role. What are your current responsibilities, and how did you get there?

I’m an Engineering Manager at GitHub, where I work on a team called Ecosystem Events. We manage the infrastructure that powers webhooks. Webhooks are the inverse of an API, where an event happens on github.com — like someone opens an issue or a pull request — and we send an HTTP request to people that are interested in knowing. This powers various parts of Code Climate.

I’ve been at GitHub for about five years. I first started as an individual contributor on our API team. Previously, I worked at General Assembly building a backend coding platform for our mobile app. Before that, I worked at NYU as a Systems Administrator. Software engineering wasn’t my initial path; I discovered it through hackathons.

Let’s start with what made you decide to get into engineering.

The turning point came from hackathons. I took part in a hackathon-on-wheels known as StartupBus, where we built a startup while traveling to the South by Southwest festival in Texas. That sparked my interest in coding. Following that, I took a class at General Assembly on Ruby on Rails, realizing that I wanted to create something from nothing.

Was that bus something you had to apply for?

Yes, I applied after hearing about it at the New York Tech Meetup. It was a valuable networking experience, despite my lack of coding experience at the time.

Let’s jump forward to your next major transition, from IC to manager. Was that a leap you expected to make?

Yes, it was something I wanted early on. I was looking for autonomy and realized I could provide more value as a manager than as an IC. When a gap opened up in our team, I was given the chance to transition into engineering management.

And did that person have any particularly good advice?

Absolutely. I learned that engineering management has high highs and low lows. You can motivate others and help them achieve incredible things but also face tough conversations as a manager.

How do you think the role of a manager differs from the role of a leader? Is there a difference?

There’s less difference than people believe. Leadership can happen at any level, including as an IC. Delivering feedback is an important part of helping someone improve, regardless of title.

You have some writing out there — it’s all very technical. How do you balance that with management?

It’s tough. I try to stay technical, dedicating personal time for it, and at GitHub, we have a Day of Learning to encourage skill development.

Is GitHub usually co-located, remote, or partially distributed?

We have a remote team, and my team spans from San Francisco to London, leading to challenges in scheduling and communication.

What challenges does remote leadership present for a manager?

Face-to-face communication is my default, and scheduling individual 1:1s can be challenging. GitHub optimizes for asynchronous communication, using tools like Slack and GitHub issues.

How do you get to know your team and help them grow professionally?

1:1 meetings are crucial for talking about career progression and feedback. Prior to COVID, we held mini summits for team-building.

What advice do you have for new managers?

Everyone’s path is unique. Moving from IC to manager can pose interpersonal challenges, and I found working with a leadership coach helpful. Familiarizing yourself with management literature is also useful, but every relationship within the team is distinct.

Any last comments or thoughts?

Optimizing for creativity might require flexibility; creativity could come outside the usual work hours. It’s important to ensure transparent communication regarding task delegation to adapt to different working patterns.