Newsletters are one of my favorite ways to learn new things. But the struggle with newsletters is finding the informational ones, and ignoring the terrible ones.

Over the last few years, I subscribed and unsubscribed to several newsletters for new engineering managers. In this article, I’m sharing my recommended top 5 newsletters for new engineering managers.

My top 5 favorite newsletters for new engineering managers

My personal favorite newsletters for engineering managers contain a combination of curated lists, deep dives, and personal stories. The top 5 newsletters for new engineering managers (in no particular order):

  • Software Lead Weekly
  • The Engineering Manager
  • The Pragmatic Engineer
  • CTO Insights
  • Scarlet Ink

Here’s why I subscribe to them:

Software lead weekly

I always look forward to receiving Software lead weekly on Fridays. Oren Ellenbogen does an outstanding job of sending a weekly curated list of resources around people, culture, and leadership in tech.

Each weekly newsletter contains about 10 articles, ranging from in-depth guides, thought-provoking articles, and usually a funny tweet or 2 to lighten your mood. Each link includes a quick way to save them to Pocket directly. It might seem small, but it makes it blazingly fast for me to read the newsletter, and save the interesting articles. And read them at a more convenient time.

The Engineering Manager

Even though The engineering manager newsletter by James Stanier is not sent as frequently as other newsletters, the depth of his articles amazes me.

James is a director of engineering at Shopify. When he first started as a leader in engineering he found the lack of resources alarming. What should a manager do all day? Over time this resulted in this newsletter and James has written two books. His writing has made me reconsider my opinion or thoughts several times.

The Pragmatic Engineer

The Pragmatic Engineer by Gergely Orosz was the first newsletter that blew my mind. I used to consider newsletters as spammy marketing things. But Gergely opened my eyes newsletters can be something I look forward to to reading.

From providing cases on how big tech compensation, thoughts on the future, collabs with interesting thought leaders, or in-depth case studies. The pragmatic engineer provides a wide range of very interesting topics for anyone interested in software engineering. The paid subscription of $15/month is an absolute steal for the extra content you get.

CTO Insights

CTO Insights by Tosho Trajanov is another excellent newsletter if you want to stay up-to-date with trends in software engineering, and leadership in tech.

CTO Insights sends you a weekly list of curated articles. This ensures you have a steady supply of topics and articles to keep up to date with industry trends. The topics are wide-ranging for technical leaders. From hard skills, culture, AI, leadership, and many more.

Scarlet Ink

Scarlet Ink by Dave Anderson got on my radar by a collaboration with Gergely from the Pragmatic Engineer. I was surprised I never heard of Dave and Scarlet Ink before.

Dave worked as General Manager and tech Director at Amazon and Facebook. Dave shares the stories of his career. A great way to learn as a new leader is to see how experienced leaders handle situations. And that is why one of my personal favorite blog posts is A Day in the Life of a Senior Manager at Amazon.

Most articles are behind a paywall of $12 / month. But I’m sure his free articles convince you that this is money well spent!

Afterthought

These are my personal favorite newsletters for new engineering managers. I hope these will give you the same amount of knowledge, lessons, and enjoyment while reading. Let me know if there is a newsletter you think needs to be added to this list!

In addition to this blog, I also run a newsletter. I share my personal highlights of the month, blog posts, useful resources, and inspiring leadership quotes.