What Makes a Great Engineering Manager? Insights from Microsoft’s Substrate Team

Nick Cosentino is a chief software engineering manager with 12 years of team‑leadership experience and 14 years of software development expertise.

In this first‑person narrative he explains how to manage engineering effectively while balancing code and team dynamics.

Who He Is

He creates software‑engineering education videos, focusing on C# and .NET, and publishes a weekly engineering newsletter offering actionable advice based on his career.

He enjoys helping engineers launch their careers and shares practices that helped a startup grow from eight employees to a global organization.

He emphasizes pragmatism, believing there is no single “right” way—methods vary with context.

Career Journey

After graduating from the University of Waterloo in 2012, he joined a small digital forensics startup (later Magnet Forensics), where he quickly moved into engineering‑manager responsibilities while still writing C# code daily.

At Magnet Forensics he contributed to most product development and provided guidance across teams.

Later he joined a large tech company, worked on the Substrate project—Office 365’s common infrastructure for data access, authentication, and search—and helped deploy hundreds of services to hundreds of thousands of machines worldwide.

He now leads teams focused on Substrate routing and DDoS protection.

How He Leads Diverse Engineering Teams

He was taught situational leadership, transparency, and trust. He tailors his approach to each engineer’s feedback preferences, career goals, challenges, and interests, building relationships from the individual up.

He strives for maximum transparency while filtering information that could distract the team, coordinating with senior leadership to maintain consistency.

Trust is built by taking responsibility, acting consistently, and creating a psychologically safe environment where failure is acceptable and growth is supported.

Biggest Challenge as an Engineering Manager

Balancing personal contribution with elevating the team’s overall performance is the toughest problem; success is measured by the multiplier effect of influencing many engineers.

He also must align business priorities with individual skills, interests, and growth opportunities, requiring regular communication and investment in the team.

He uses situational leadership to frame team members’ current positions and development paths, adjusting timelines to create learning opportunities while managing risk.

Future Evolution of the Engineering Manager Role

He sees the role becoming increasingly people‑centric, moving away from the assumption that top technical contributors automatically make good managers.

Effective managers will be those with strong leadership experience and a genuine interest in working with people, rather than solely technical expertise.

Advice for Engineers Aspiring to Management

Understand that software‑engineering management is demanding and expectations vary widely across companies.

If you dislike extensive people interaction, the role may be a poor fit.

Seek informal leadership opportunities—mentor junior engineers, help teammates, and demonstrate readiness without abandoning technical focus.

Supporting Team Professional and Personal Growth

He recommends weekly one‑on‑ones driven by the employee’s agenda, creating an open space for discussion, building trust, and focusing on impact rather than status updates.

Clear career progression, regular feedback, and evaluation frameworks help align expectations and reduce surprise during promotions.

Microsoft’s Engineering Culture

Microsoft prioritizes diversity, inclusion, and a no‑blame culture that encourages psychological safety and a growth mindset.

Initiatives like “Fix‑Hack‑Learn” weeks let engineers explore prototypes, new skills, and unconventional projects.

Practices Ensuring High‑Quality Software at Microsoft

Key practices include a no‑blame post‑mortem culture, safe deployment practices, and a “One Microsoft” mindset that encourages cross‑team collaboration.

Post‑mortems involve “5 Whys” analysis to uncover root causes, and deployment teams use gradual roll‑outs with monitoring to detect regressions quickly.

Excitement About Emerging Trends

He is most excited about artificial intelligence, especially how AI tools like Copilot can automate routine tasks, improve debugging, and surface insights from large data sets.

AI will dramatically boost software‑engineer productivity in the coming years.

Balancing Work and Life

Flexibility is essential for globally distributed teams; he models flexible meeting times and encourages his team to do the same.

He practices servant leadership, making himself available for help while setting boundaries to avoid burnout.

Habits for Efficiency and Focus

He stays current by creating content, reading insights from other engineering leaders on LinkedIn, and carving uninterrupted time blocks in his calendar.

He avoids ambiguous meetings by asking for clear objectives and minimizes distractions from phone notifications.

Resources for Aspiring Engineering Managers

Networking with other engineering managers, joining mentorship circles like Microsoft Management Circle (MMC), and engaging in LinkedIn communities are valuable informal resources.

He recommends Kim Scott’s book “Radical Candor” for learning direct, caring feedback.