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by rigel_kentaurus
2231 days ago
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Observe your team lead, he/she might be dead weight... or maybe not. It's true that a tech lead should be pro-efficient in the language and technology, but there are tons of things that a tech lead is supposed to do. Bringing people together, keeping the motivation of the team going, solving conflicts as soon as they happen. Also communicating with management (maybe you haven't realized that you are free to focus on the tech side because someone else is absorbing the drama?) A tech lead is also expected to be able to distribute work and keep everyone engaged, working through the process and making sure the team has the resources including QA, hardware, other teams, coordinating release schedules, aligning stakeholders, controlling scope creep and product managers. And sometimes the manager relies on him to even do admin work. Sometimes people are in a position for a reason. The ironic thing that could happen to you would be that someday you get that job and suddenly realize that it requires a completely different set of skills. |
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I've worked with both types of team leads -- those that are there because they are technically proficient, as well as those that are good at handling the politics so the team doesn't and relies upon Sr. engineers to guide the project technically.
It's completely situational as to what is appropriate. Are you a 6+ person team in a large org (or in a small dysfunctional org)? Then you want some one who can handle the politics. Are you a 4 person team that owns your company's entire tech stack? Then you want someone who is really technically proficient.
Since OP mentioned the manager of this person, I suspect it's a larger org where politics is king, otherwise they would report to a VP or higher directly.