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> I have no managerial experience, hence I can't get any leadership roles (either people or software),

Management and leadership are overlapping but different things. You become a leader by having people who will follow you. Having control over their rewards and career (management) makes that more straightforward but it’s not the only way.

Do you know your boss’s biggest objectives, problems and worries? Your boss’s boss? Do you have opinion about what is holding your team back?

The answers to the above often aren’t strictly technical. Your boss might be under pressure to show efficiency improvements due to AI, or might have junior developers struggling to ramp, or be getting taken to task for quality issues. If you understand their problems and go to them with a solution they will typically be happy to make at least a little space to work on it. Succeed, and you develop trust, which in turn results in them being more willing to turn to you to solve problems and grant more autonomy to do so.

The key thing here is that you have to work to find problems that others want you to solve. You can develop autonomy, but only in the service of others.

That’s true whether you want to develop within a corporate environment or move into consultancy- you only get rewarded/paid to work on problems someone else wants solved.

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scarface_74 5 days ago | parent [-]

In my mind, there is very little overlap in management which is about role power and leadership which is about relationship and reputation building.

Even a manager shouldn’t rely too much on role power to achieve objectives.

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topkai22 5 days ago | parent [-]

Definitely agree, almost wrote that too, but it was already a long response :)

Management is about directing resources. Good management needs leadership ability to get the people they are directing to buy into where they are being directed, but also a bunch of other skills.

That being said, having the formal designation makes relationship and reputation building easier to start- subordinates are motivated to have a good relationship with you.

	▲	scarface_74 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		Maybe? In today’s market, I’m going to do everything I can to build a positive relationship with my manager. Jobs just don’t fall out of the sky like they have done for me since 1996. But if I don’t genuinely like and respect my manager, I’m not going to go the extra mile for him, I’m not going to stick it out with him through thick and thin and I’m going to leave at the first opportunity. On the other hand, I’ve had very technical managers that their subordinates liked. But didn’t build positive relationships with the rest of the org. It was impossible to get things done that required cross team coordination and he couldn’t get the raises and recognition that his team wanted. Everyone ended up leaving.