Episode 77

The Promotion Paradox | SUDO Show 77

June 9th, 2026

1 hr 3 mins 35 secs

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sudo solutions career development ai in management leadership skills management failures imposter syndrome micromanagement management metrics company culture peopleware open source summit north america dirk hohndel linus torvalds maintainer burnout open source maintainer staff engineer principal engineer ic vs management track individual contributor peter principle devops leadership sysadmin to manager team lead engineering management tech careers linux careers the promotion paradox sudo show technology software opensource open source linux enterprise business

About this Episode

SUDO Show 77, “The Promotion Paradox,” is all about what happens when the best nerd in the room gets handed a calendar full of 1:1s, budgets, and “peopleware” instead of terminals and tickets. Bill, Neal, and Noel swap stories about micromanagers, open office nightmares, open source maintainers, and why learning to lead humans is way harder—and ultimately more rewarding—than just being the fastest person at fixing servers.

Show Links:
The Manager’s Path – Camille Fournier
https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/the-managers-path/9781491973882/
An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management – Will Larson
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45303387-an-elegant-puzzle
Linus Torvalds & Dirk Hohndel – Open Source Summit North America 2026 keynote
https://youtu.be/fi29pfLcW4I

Connect with the Hosts:
Bill - @ctlinux on Mastodon
Neal - @neal@social.gompa.me on Mastodon
Noel - https://github.com/noelmiller