So You’re a Developer, Where Does Your Career Go Next?

One Option is to Become a Tech Lead

The first step in becoming a Tech Lead is very simple: The letter I needs to be replaced by the word WE.

First of All, What is a Tech Lead?

Being a developer, I always enjoyed working with my business and leadership to define roadmaps. This, along with the passion of playing a mentor role for other engineers, pushed me to eventually adopt a Tech Lead Role. Now I take part in system design sessions, working and negotiating for the team all while guiding and mentoring other engineers making this role truly satisfying.

A Tech Lead should be able to break down a big project into chunks. After this, a Lead works with a team of developers to drive these smaller chunks to completion. This is a key difference between a developer who can work in isolation versus a Lead who needs to work with the team at all times. In addition to writing and reviewing quality code, Leads must learn to understand their team, resolve conflicts, and effectively juggle an extraordinary amount of tasks.

Should You be a People Manager or Tech Lead?

To understand the answer, you need to be honest about what you are passionate about.

Is it grooming/mentoring other members of the team? Is it working with Business Lead to define roadmaps and negotiating what work can be done? Or you would rather spend time being involved in leading systems design and working closely with the team to develop critical pieces of software.

I personally started as a developer but slowly realized that in addition to Software Development, I am really passionate about mentoring and grooming folks as well as working with stakeholders to define long-term roadmaps. So I decided to play a dual role of Tech Lead and People Manager. In my role I get to solve complicated engineering problems with the team and actively participate in designing systems while getting to mentor and groom future leaders. This is what makes the dual role extremely special for me.

So how can you tell if this kind of role is right for you?

Are There Proven Attributes of a Good Tech Lead? (And Do You Have Them?)

Don’t wait for instructions or directions before taking on more ownership

• Ability to Take Ownership: A good Tech Lead must be accountable for everything they have committed to; a good leader never blames others. Try to identify potential issues and resolve them with the help of your team. Being accountable and taking ownership during crunch situations sets a great example for other team members looking up to you.
• Excel at Mentoring: As a Tech Lead, it’s very important to understand that not everyone on your team will excel at the same speed. Set the right expectations for everyone on the team on a case-by-case basis. Mentors engineers actively looking for feedback on how they can better perform in their current role should never withhold feedback. Also seek mentors outside of your team if required to bring in different set of perspectives.
• Long-Term Thinking: Coming from a developer background, initially it’s very difficult to think past two to three months of planned work. To give an example, one of the key duties of a Tech Lead would be working with stakeholders to define a roadmap and making sure there is a pipeline of work always planned for the team. This is a key attribute which requires a basic understanding of project management and allows a team of engineers to be focused on achievable successes.

Prepare Yourself and Plan Ahead

There will never be a perfect time to make this leap; you just need to pick a day and get going.

Once you have decided to pursue a Lead role, prepare yourself by talking to your manager about it and taking small steps:

• Identify a mentor outside of your team who has been through this journey to learn and to get constructive feedback.
• Identify a complicated project and ask to be involved in such assignments. Take on more responsibilities architecting designs and leading other engineers.

Small steps like these will allow you to get a feel of what the transition would look like.

It will also set you up for success once you have officially moved into the Lead Role. When I was making the transition, I started by taking on a stretch role leading a team of engineers to design and deliver a critical complicated project. After few months experiencing the ups and downs of development with the team, I realized how much passion I had for being a people manager as well.

Things You Should Know Before You Start Your Tech Lead Journey

Expect challenges and interruptions when taking over the role for the first time.

I personally had to reorganize my day around my team’s needs and carve out remaining time accordingly for other items on the list. With better time management and tooling, I was eventually able to find the right balance.

• Can Work Through Interruptions
  As a Tech Lead, you will be constantly interrupted with multiple questions from the team. Organize your day so that your team’s needs are your Number 1 priority. Spend 15 minutes planning your day before getting into any meetings.

I have tried to incorporate the 2-Minute Rule for a couple of years now.

2–Minute Rule: Part 1 — If it takes less than two minutes, then do it now

• Less Hands-On Development and More High-Level Design Conversations
  You will have less time for hands-on development and more time towards high-level system design discussions with architects. This will ensure you have a high-level understanding of the systems you are leading.
• Be an Active Listener for Your Team
  As a Lead, encourage an open door policy for your team members and be an active listener understanding your team’s needs and how you can help them. Incorporating feedback from team members on how the team operates is a key to succeed as a Lead.
• Be Prepared to Empower the Team:Delegation is Key
  In the Lead role, you will have multiple requests in the course of a day.
  The key to not feeling overwhelmed is delegating items to team members and empowering them to complete the task at hand.

Conclusion

One key to success is constantly being on a learning path and expecting tough and unpredictable situations. One personal suggestion so that you don’t feel overwhelmed would be to understand the below:

Leadership is about people, help them grow. Leadership is not only about directing or streamlining work but it’s about creating more leaders.

These opinions are those of the author. Unless noted otherwise in this post, Capital One is not affiliated with, nor is it endorsed by any of the companies mentioned. All trademarks and other intellectual property used or displayed are the ownership of their respective owners. This article is © 2019 Capital One.