25+ years as a Software Developer. I'm passionate about process improvement using technology. Let's all work smarter not harder and do more with less.
MY THOUGHTS ARE MY OWN
When I was a tech lead I loved it. One important point about being a tech lead, you have to be a jack of all trades which requires alot of experience and knowledge. You being a good developer who knows a language really well will not do it. You have to be able to talk with all the other tech teams. You have to be able to see and understand the big picture.
I've been struggling in my first years on this role and tried to learn from everything I could get my hands on.
It wasn't until I identified five main areas where I should focus: Leadership, Communication, Project management, Business thinking and analysis, System design and architecture and finally Software Engineering.
Notice how Software Engineering is the last in the list?.. That's because it's least helpful at being a good Tech Lead. It's expected that you are a good Software Engineer by that point, but it's not going to help you succeed as a Tech Lead. Took me a while to realize, though.
Anyways, after I identified those areas I then tried to find the best resources to improve each of the areas on my own.
Many books, articles and courses later I compiled a list of the most valuable and influential ones and kept returning to it when I felt I need to get better.
I shared it with a couple of friends over time and they found it useful, so I published it on a separate web page: techleadcompass.com/
~ 3x/week - a letter (and podcast) for tech leads, engineering managers, and startup CTOs, giving you clarity, certainty, and confidence in the role. https://techleadcoaching.com
It's a crazy role, huh, Kyle? Having been a manager putting people in tech lead roles as well as being a tech lead myself many times, it's a very fluid role.
Tell us more about what you loved about it? For me, my first experiences were, well, different.... Can't say I loved it!
Later, when I got to see incredible tech leads in action, I learned what worked...
25+ years as a Software Developer. I'm passionate about process improvement using technology. Let's all work smarter not harder and do more with less.
MY THOUGHTS ARE MY OWN
I just loved being the guy in charge and responsible of putting the lego pieces together. I was a tech. lead for a city government. Every project was a big systems integration project. System A had to talk to System B, System B had to send data to System C in a weird format so that it could process it, so on and so on. A lot of responsibility is on you to make sure everything goes well.
~ 3x/week - a letter (and podcast) for tech leads, engineering managers, and startup CTOs, giving you clarity, certainty, and confidence in the role. https://techleadcoaching.com
Agreed. So how did you do it? Just stay really close to the team (I call it a tracking and adjusting behavior)? Or did you spend a lot of time upfront to define the vision (another one of the behaviors I outline in the book)? Both? Neither?
25+ years as a Software Developer. I'm passionate about process improvement using technology. Let's all work smarter not harder and do more with less.
MY THOUGHTS ARE MY OWN
When I was a tech lead I loved it. One important point about being a tech lead, you have to be a jack of all trades which requires alot of experience and knowledge. You being a good developer who knows a language really well will not do it. You have to be able to talk with all the other tech teams. You have to be able to see and understand the big picture.
Very well put, Kyle.
I've been struggling in my first years on this role and tried to learn from everything I could get my hands on.
It wasn't until I identified five main areas where I should focus: Leadership, Communication, Project management, Business thinking and analysis, System design and architecture and finally Software Engineering.
Notice how Software Engineering is the last in the list?.. That's because it's least helpful at being a good Tech Lead. It's expected that you are a good Software Engineer by that point, but it's not going to help you succeed as a Tech Lead. Took me a while to realize, though.
Anyways, after I identified those areas I then tried to find the best resources to improve each of the areas on my own.
Many books, articles and courses later I compiled a list of the most valuable and influential ones and kept returning to it when I felt I need to get better.
I shared it with a couple of friends over time and they found it useful, so I published it on a separate web page: techleadcompass.com/
Hope somebody finds it useful, too!
Best,
Vitaly
It's a crazy role, huh, Kyle? Having been a manager putting people in tech lead roles as well as being a tech lead myself many times, it's a very fluid role.
Tell us more about what you loved about it? For me, my first experiences were, well, different.... Can't say I loved it!
Later, when I got to see incredible tech leads in action, I learned what worked...
I just loved being the guy in charge and responsible of putting the lego pieces together. I was a tech. lead for a city government. Every project was a big systems integration project. System A had to talk to System B, System B had to send data to System C in a weird format so that it could process it, so on and so on. A lot of responsibility is on you to make sure everything goes well.
Agreed. So how did you do it? Just stay really close to the team (I call it a tracking and adjusting behavior)? Or did you spend a lot of time upfront to define the vision (another one of the behaviors I outline in the book)? Both? Neither?
Staying really close to the teams.