What the Job Posting Doesn't Say: Burnout Among Software Engineering Managers

# Replication Package ## "What the Job Posting Doesn’t Say: Burnout Among Software Engineering Managers" ### ICSE 2027 — Research Track --- ## Contents ``` replication_package/ ├── README.md ← this file │ ├── study2_job_descriptions/ │ ├── raw/ │ │ ├── LinkedIn_Jobs_2026-06-21_17-16_20.json (20 JDs) │ │ └── LinkedIn_Jobs_2026-06-21_17-18_20.json (20 JDs) │ ├── jd_coded_dataset.csv ← coded JD dataset (all 40 postings) │ └── analyse_jds.py ← coding and analysis script │ ├── study1_reddit/ │ ├── anonymized/ ← 40 Reddit thread JSON files │ │ └── [thread files] │ ├── ta_documentation │ ``` --- ## Study 2 — Reddit Qualitative Study **Platform**: r/EngineeringManagers (Reddit) **Sample**: 40 threads (40 original posts + 1,000+ comments), collected January–May 2026. Purposive sampling targeting threads about stress, burnout, role difficulty, career transition, and AI impact on the EM role. **Method**: Braun & Clarke (2006, 2019) reflexive thematic analysis, six-phase process. Human-AI collaborative coding: AI (Claude Sonnet 4.6) generated 109 initial codes across the corpus; the researcher exercised authority over all analytical decisions including code revision, rejection, theme construction, naming, and final claim formation. **Themes identified**: - T1: The Structurally Unbounded Role - T2: The Technical-to-Human Rupture - T3: Caught Between Hierarchies - T4: AI Rewrites the Job **Thread citation format**: [CODE, Pxxx], e.g. [STRESS, P001] --- ## Ethics Reddit data collected from public threads on r/EngineeringManagers. All usernames are public Reddit pseudonyms retained as posted; no private data accessed. Analysis follows AoIR Internet Research Ethics Guidelines 3.0. --- ## Study 2 — Job Description Analysis **Data collection**: 40 LinkedIn job postings for "software engineering manager" (or equivalent) roles, collected June 21, 2026, via LinkedIn job search. Postings span 39 companies across North America, Latin America, and Europe. **Coding instrument**: Eight binary domain codes applied per posting: - D1: Technical/coding competence - D2: People management & coaching - D3: Project/programme management - D4: Strategic & business acumen - D5: AI/ML expertise - D6: Cross-hierarchy bridging - D7: Emotional labour (explicit) - D8: Ownership/accountability language - D9: Organisational resources offered **Script**: `analyse_jds.py` — run with `python3 analyse_jds.py` (requires Python 3.8+, no external dependencies) **Output**: `jd_coded_dataset.csv` — one row per posting with all codes, domain breadth score, and theme-level flags (T1–T4) --- ## Reproducibility Notes - JD coding script is fully deterministic (regex-based, no ML). - Reddit TA involves interpretive judgements; the codebook and theme development documents provide an audit trail for analytical decisions. - all final codes and themes were determined by the researcher.