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Discussion on: Sure you want to be a tech lead?

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Allen Helton

I love being a tech lead. With any leadership position it comes with its ups and downs, but being able to help grow your team is an unbelievably rewarding experience.

You don't need to have a "lead" title in order to help people grow, however. In fact, there are plenty of leads out there that don't do that. Leading is about influencing people, and influence does not come with a title.

I will say that being given a position of authority in a company definitely helps, but it's not the end-all-be-all. That being said, I 100% agree with you Michael on the motivation factors for becoming a tech lead. Do it for the people, not for you.

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Michael Rice

💯 Allen!! So. Many. Great. Points!

Glad you're finding it rewarding. For me, I found it really hard when I started. I was a terribly mediocre tech lead until I started to figure out that the people piece of it was truly its own discipline to figure out (sounds absurd to say that, in retrospect!).

Also, totally agree that you don't need a formal tech "lead" title. Think you would agree that I feel like most tech leads are informally in the role or only in the role for a fleeting project.

Thanks again Allen!