Previous manager: she was a bad developer for 1-2 years, people wanted her out of the project, management proposed her a management position in front of the customer (pretty face, blonde hair, meetings all day, talk nice to people no matter how dumb they are). Even she was shocked that she was proposed for the job.
Another manager: quickly pushed up and enter in a terminal, deleted production database. He "decided" he really wants to be a manager. Probably management didn't want him on the project anymore but at least he understood some tehnical stuff so they kept him.
These are self-reported stories. Beer is magic.
The usual path is that you become friends with whoever decides to name new managers. Say yes to every stupid thing they say, act both surprised 6 months later when it fails and so on. I don't know why people are afraid of saying it as it is. It's funny how developers think that all you need to do is just learn one more thing. It's not. When my manager's manager came to town, he made sure he is 100% available to go to dinner and drinks and so on. That's what you need to do. Call wife, send kid away, you need to be seen by your manager at drinks...
Another manager: quickly pushed up and enter in a terminal, deleted production database. He "decided" he really wants to be a manager. Probably management didn't want him on the project anymore but at least he understood some tehnical stuff so they kept him.
These are self-reported stories. Beer is magic.
The usual path is that you become friends with whoever decides to name new managers. Say yes to every stupid thing they say, act both surprised 6 months later when it fails and so on. I don't know why people are afraid of saying it as it is. It's funny how developers think that all you need to do is just learn one more thing. It's not. When my manager's manager came to town, he made sure he is 100% available to go to dinner and drinks and so on. That's what you need to do. Call wife, send kid away, you need to be seen by your manager at drinks...