Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–259 of 259 posts

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

#251

Post by eric234223 »

TLDR: Be very skilled or be likable.

Be very good than most team members in your tech skills and demonstrate it when chance presents, that will make them respect your judgement. If your tech skills are not on par with some of the team members that's fine, but you need to handle them differently. Time and time again i have seen skilled members of the team will question authority if they don't get along with team leads. Remember the cost of replacing a manager or techlead is low compared to skilled people because they get paid lower usually. You may have to delegate work but you must be the most skilled guy in the team or you should have a very likable personality.

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

#252

Post by dirtydroog »

otobrglez wrote: post #126

Get the O'reilly's book "The Manager's Path - A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change" and READ IT. 1) You will not need to trust others to write better code/systems then you and that you will very likely be unable to code anymore. 2) Establish a good relationship with your team members. Seek for people who you can delegate to and trust. Trust and reliable people are really hard to find. When shit hits…

These are the tasks of an Engineering Manager, not a Tech Lead.

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

#254

Post by PeterisP »

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.

A tech lead should code, but most of what they achieve is through code written by others, so that should be the focus of their work and what they're evaluated on. The coding done by the tech lead is to (a) keep in touch with what's happening; (b) maintain technical standards and infrastructure; and (c) key parts that require specific expertise, but all these three things essentially facilitate the productivity of others, not mainly make an individual contribution.

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

#255

Post by deepsun »

munificent wrote: post #138

One of my favorite parts of the Tao Te Ching is this: A leader is best when people barely know that he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him. Fail to honor people, They fail to honor you. But of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aims fulfilled, they will all say, “We did this ourselves.” Your role is now defined by what your team needs you to be. L…

Depends. Most SV companies managers prefer to over-communicate.

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

#256

Post by hnrodey »

undefined1 wrote: post #214
hnrodey wrote: post #52

I've been a "senior developer" for several years and just moved to a formal management role with direct reports. Briefly, here's where I would suggest you start. 1. Read the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink. I'm not the first to suggest this book but it has fundamentally shaped how I work and how I interact with others. 2. Try to write. I'd start with writing your "Manager Readme" file even if you don't plan t…

> Read the book Extreme Ownership That idea and set of principles is something I'm kind of surprised hasn't become more widespread. It also changed my approach in a fundamental way and is one of those things I wish I had learned a long time ago. Also I've found his Good concept a useful way to stay positive: Oh, the mission got canceled? Good… We can focus on another one. Didn’t get the new high-speed gear we wanted?…

I feel you, brother.

fist bump

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

#257

Post by kaskavalci »

nthj wrote: post #64

My team lead philosophy: engineers that score successes continue to be successful. There will always be a backlog of tickets, and you can't hit inbox zero. But you can hack it. Executives need to increase the Average Sales Price (ASP) and Reduce Churn. Your team will want to fix technical debt. Your job is to bridge the gap: help your team understand how their work impacts customers. Help the business understand how…

One of the best answers on the whole thread. It is good to know the things I suffer most (no deep work because of interruptions) are quite common. Your post deserves to be much higher on the thread.

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

#258

Post by kaskavalci »

jbarbosa wrote: post #246

Recently, I've been in charge of Growth at Whitesmith. For the last months I can pretty much resume everything to talking with everyone. Not only it will give you insights where you should go, but it will also help your team to solve their pains and frustrations and they will naturally grow and follow your lead. So, a few (sorry, not that few) notes: * Too much information around You will feel lost in a sea of inform…

I am late to the party but here it goes. Everybody recommends to take care of the team and nurture. But nobody mentions what to do with slackers. Tech leads don't have the authority to hire/fire people but responsible for their performance. If one decides to only give 10% of their time to work, how one can motivate them?
Post reply on HN