From Bike Mechanic to Engineering Manager – My Unexpected Path

I didn’t have a computer science degree. No formal training. Just an intense curiosity and a willingness to put in the work.

So, I signed up for a web development course and spent every free moment learning to code.

Late nights. Side projects. Hustling to get experience.

I built websites for friends, for small businesses—whoever needed one. Those projects led to my first real job as a developer at one of Hungary’s largest e-commerce companies.

A few years later, I landed a role in the Netherlands as a JavaScript developer.

For a while, I was happy. My skills improved. My salary increased. Life was good.

But then I hit a wall.

I realized I could solve most coding problems without much struggle. Work became predictable.

I was comfortable.

And that was the problem—I wasn’t growing.

I craved a new challenge. So, I left a large telecom company for a smaller one, stepping into my first lead developer role.

I thought I had made it. I was so excited to modernize their outdated tech stack and lead a team.

But instead, I found myself pacing up and down the office stairs, overwhelmed, stressed, and on the verge of burnout. My head was spinning.

"Man, this can't be that bad. This can't be that hard. Everybody thinks I'm stupid."

I had made the classic mistake many developers make:

I assumed that because I was a great coder, I’d naturally be a great leader.

Wrong.

One day, I was a developer. The next, I was responsible for an entire team’s performance and the outcome of multiple projects.

And coding? That was no longer my top priority.

I had no guidance. No mentor. No one taught me how to:

• Lead a team effectively
• Communicate with upper management
• Manage people with different personalities

I was figuring things out the hard way—by making painful mistakes.

At a major tech conference in Amsterdam, I was chatting with an organizer when he mentioned a company looking for a lead frontend developer. They wanted to build an in-house team from scratch.

Everything fell into place, and soon, I found myself in a startup-like environment within a large company.

We were hiring developers, setting up processes, and scaling fast.

Then, one afternoon, I was checking our Jira board, thinking about how to close the sprint on time when something hit me.

For the first time ever, I was more interested in how teams work efficiently than in what code I was writing.

That strange moment changed everything.

I grabbed a yellow sticky note and wrote down everything I genuinely enjoyed:

• Helping teams work better
• Improving processes
• 1-on-1 meetings
• Agile leadership
• and a few more

Later, over lunch, I shared my thoughts with my manager. I told him I wanted to shift my focus from coding to leadership.

He scratched his head and said, "I can’t offer a position like that."

This sentence sent a shiver down my spine.

But then he continued:

"But these are all part of my job. If you'd like, I can mentor you. Teach you how to do them well. And in return, you can help me out."

I didn’t hesitate.

From that day forward, every challenge became a learning experience.

We talked about handling difficult teammates, fixing struggling projects, and even how to communicate effectively with senior leadership.

I learned more in those conversations than I ever could from a book—because books don’t answer your specific questions. They don’t know your challenges.

Years later, when my mentor moved on, I took his place.

Since then, I’ve:

✅ Built and led multiple teams

✅ Helped scale engineering organizations

✅ Worked on products used by millions of people

✅ Managed teams building multi-million-dollar software

And now?

Now I mentor ambitious software engineers so they can become strong tech leaders—without going through the painful trial and error I did.

Take control of your career now—before another year passes.

80% of what I know today came from mentorship. The other 20%? Reading newsletters like this one.

That’s why I created my mentorship program—so you don’t have to struggle through leadership alone.

For a limited time, I’m offering 25% off my mentorship program.

If you want to fast-track your leadership journey and skip years of painful mistakes, this is for you.

👉 Send "3x3" on LinkedIn or reply to this email if you are interested in details.

Until next time,
Gábor