Ask HN: Advice for a new and inexperienced tech lead? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Advice for a new and inexperienced tech lead?

#111

Post by geocrasher » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 7:46 PM UTC

Supermancho wrote: post #79

geocrasher wrote: post #8

A good leader doesn't compete with others- they bring out the best in others. They assume the best of others. They lead by example. They are a facilitate as much as they delegate, and they don't lose sight of the fact that you can't lead from the trenches. A good leader remains objective when it's hard to do so, and doesn't take it personally when somebody disagrees with them. A good leader is kind, humble, and willi…

> you can't lead from the trenches Not sure why this analogy is applied to software development. The best managers I've had lead from the trenches where we all work.

It's not a matter of workload, it's a matter of perspective.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for a new and inexperienced tech lead?

#112

Post by tbabb » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 7:47 PM UTC

bosswipe wrote: post #109

jrochkind1 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"tech lead" is not considered an individual contributor role? Is it considered a management role? I'm realizing I'm not quite sure what is meant by a "tech lead" role.

I agree, that advice is more for managers than tech leads. A mistake I've seen orgs make often is promoting their best developers into role where they don't code. A tech lead that doesn't code is a manager.

I am sure the meaning of "lead" varies from company to company. This advice applies to any role where you have any degree of responsibility for others' success (and haven't before).

Where I worked, as a lead I was probably doing up to 50% individual contribution and the rest "management". But I have seen new leads in the same role do 150% individual contribution, and then let their team down on leadership tasks because they've let themselves become swamped. This is a very common error for any newcomer to a job that involves leading other people (which OP specifically says is their role).

I don't think it's an error to put a coder in a position of leading others; it's just that being a productive coder is a weak predictor of being a good lead— you have to look at other markers. Having that kind of "on-the-ground" understanding can be a great strength that can't be had any other way.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for a new and inexperienced tech lead?

#113

Post by jrochkind1 » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 7:53 PM UTC

smilekzs wrote: post #103

jrochkind1 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"tech lead" is not considered an individual contributor role? Is it considered a management role? I'm realizing I'm not quite sure what is meant by a "tech lead" role.

My understanding is that "tech lead" as a role in Big Tech is more of a gateway position to bridge the gap between IC and management roles, a transition for a well-performing engineer who otherwise has no experience managing a team to "bootstrap" and gain that experience. During this, coding expectations for said engineer naturally lowers, and is shifted towards the total productivity of the emerging "subtree".

OK, that's helpful. Maybe not lowered to ZERO though?

Re: Ask HN: Advice for a new and inexperienced tech lead?

#114

Post by njacobs5074 » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 7:56 PM UTC

As several other people have recommended, get a mentor.

If it's company large enough that it has managers who primarily talk to other managers, you're not going to be able to figure things out quickly enough to survive in that role.

Trust your team. Never break their trust. If you do that, you will not make it.

Never put yourself before your team (i.e. make your needs more important than the team's needs)

Re: Ask HN: Advice for a new and inexperienced tech lead?

#115

Post by opmac » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 8:04 PM UTC

jrochkind1 wrote: post #113

smilekzs wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that "tech lead" as a role in Big Tech is more of a gateway position to bridge the gap between IC and management roles, a transition for a well-performing engineer who otherwise has no experience managing a team to "bootstrap" and gain that experience. During this, coding expectations for said engineer naturally lowers, and is shifted towards the total productivity of the emerging "subtree".

OK, that's helpful. Maybe not lowered to ZERO though?

In my experience, yes, but it depends on the company. Most tech leads I've interacted with (including myself) write some code from time to time.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for a new and inexperienced tech lead?

#116

Post by tbabb » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 8:11 PM UTC

jrochkind1 wrote: post #113

smilekzs wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that "tech lead" as a role in Big Tech is more of a gateway position to bridge the gap between IC and management roles, a transition for a well-performing engineer who otherwise has no experience managing a team to "bootstrap" and gain that experience. During this, coding expectations for said engineer naturally lowers, and is shifted towards the total productivity of the emerging "subtree".

OK, that's helpful. Maybe not lowered to ZERO though?

Didn't mean to suggest that it should be zero— only that new leads feel like they are falling behind when they're actually doing normal leadership tasks, because it's not coding, and coding is what feels like work to them; or that their instinct for dealing with increased workload is to code more (instead of organizing more). Those are bad instincts, hence they need to readjust their definition of "what feels like work".

Re: Ask HN: Advice for a new and inexperienced tech lead?

#117

Post by adambyrtek » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 8:16 PM UTC

sergiosgc wrote: post #102

KptMarchewa wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meetings, sales, email and other types of interactions are more taxing.

I don't mean to downplay the effort of interaction-type tasks. It's the result of observing people around me. I know many people who are happily productive on sales for 12h workdays. I know no developer who's proud of code written on the 12th hour.

Don't assume that these sales people are so happy to work overtime. They probably rely on commission and/or need to hit that sales target. Sales teams are known for super-competitive, target-driven, and high-pressure culture. We software engineers have it easy in comparison.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for a new and inexperienced tech lead?

#118

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 8:23 PM UTC

CathedralBorrow wrote: post #86

jacquesm wrote: post #81

I'd refuse. You've basically disqualified yourself. If you mean well by your team you go and train under an experienced tech lead and then move up when you think you are confident you can actually do the job. Mid level developers should not be tech leads.

Funny how you can judge an entire person based on one post. Is this a skill anyone can learn or so you have unique insight into the human mind?

It's called reading.

If you feel that you are a mid level developer then positioning yourself as a newly minted and inexperienced tech lead is a recipe for failure, someone else will be called in later on to clean up the mess, assuming the company survives.

I'm only responding to the content of the post, if there is more that I'm not aware of then you're free to point me to it but for now this stands unopposed based on the facts available. After all, what better way to interpret the question then to answer it truthfully?

Re: Ask HN: Advice for a new and inexperienced tech lead?

#119

Post by dnautics » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 8:26 PM UTC

Just generally, as an employee, what I value in my manager is "someone who's got my back".

I would say what that means is, internally, you run interference to shield your reports from management incompetence and thrash, you take responsibility for failures, and internally promote (in the "promoter" sense) them. And externally, proactively provide professional advice and support, even if that means losing someone important to your team.

More than anything else, those are the qualities I strive to as a manager. (Not saying I'm perfect at it)

Re: Ask HN: Advice for a new and inexperienced tech lead?

#120

Post by spookthesunset » Thu, Feb 06, 2020, 8:31 PM UTC

One thing I don't see mentioned here is your reward cycle is going to be different as a manager than as an engineer writing code. When you write code, you know right away when you make progress on something. You go home at the end of the day happy you got feature XYZ working or you go home cranky because you spent the day fixing a fucked up dev environment. Either way, the time between doing work and getting feedback for it is almost instant. Code compiles and look I can enter data and it saves! Awesome!

As a manager, this won't be the case. You won't get that instant reward like you did as an engineer. It might be months or even years between when you started something and you see any reward for it. It might be weeks before you even get feedback that something changed at all. Hell, you might never get to see the reward for a project you have in the oven. This can be very challenging to deal with when you are used to getting near real-time reward for your work.

You will have to adjust to the new reward cycle as you step out of coding for a day job. It's okay to have mixed feelings about it too. Just know that you will have to find other ways to find reward in what you do.