As to your own circumstances: there exist many clueful companies which would hire you. Find my email if you want to talk specifics. This is not a market where anyone skilled should be hurting for offers.

Even so, this isn't rocket science. Just like any other skill, effective communication can be taught. Like many other pursuits, it doesn't take long to distinguish yourself just because there's so much rubbish out there.

Interesting. I wasn't aware of an age breakdown of HN readers. Could you point me to it?

Most of the people I personally know on HN are over 30... but that may be selection bias on my part :-)

Given that there isn't a puzzle/test type of way to rank managers, the management positions get doled out as opposed to competed for

That may be true of some organisations, but certainly not all. Managers get judged on a bunch of metrics in many organisations... often bad ones unfortunately (then again - so are puzzle questions for developers :-)

Thanks. (Although I do like puzzles as much as the next HN member)

False. The test is: how much money did your team make? (For the truly crafty, the test is: how much money did your team make relative to the initial investment and risk?)

This is not how good managers are assessed in other forms of capitalism or business.

Consistent long-term business growth is far more important in some, e.g. in Germanic and Scandinavian countries.

In general, you could say a good manager meets the targets that have been set by higher management, whatever they may be.

Yes, I am a manager.