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Re:Ask HN: Promo from Senior to Tech Lead, any TL's care to ... by onion2k on Thursday April 09, 2020 @03:37AM (#22820553)
It depends on the company you're in, and whether or not there's a CTO above you. If there isn't then my experience is that you should expect to write a lot less code and to do a lot more project management and meetings. Your job is now to steer the tech your team is building while navigating the antagonistic wants of other parts of the business. You're going to be the person people blame a lot. Your dev team will blame you if you can't stop the product team changing things all the time or the money team complaining that things are taking too long, and the product and money teams will blame you if they don't get the changes they're requesting done fast enough.

Don't try to make everyone happy. You can't. Sometimes your team will think you're making the wrong decisions. Sometimes product and money will think you're deliberately trying to make things difficult for them. Do what you think is right for the tech you're building and fight hard for what you believe in. Usually you'll be proved right in the end.

Re:Ask HN: Promo from Senior to Tech Lead, any TL's care to ... by codingdave on Thursday April 09, 2020 @10:21AM (#22822773)
I'd disagree - tech leads are there to steer the team, not the tech. They are supposed to understand why the product designers and owners are asking for constant change, and work to make that change happen in a way that isn't disruptive. They are a liaison between different groups, to help the devs be part of an aligned effort between groups, by understanding the goals of all groups, helping the others understand the needs of the devs, while helping the devs understand how they can help meet the needs of other teams.

Do that well, and you don't have a "product" team, a "money" team, and a tech team - you just have a team.

Re:Ask HN: Promo from Senior to Tech Lead, any TL's care to ... by devnullbyte on Thursday April 09, 2020 @04:55AM (#22820856)
Thanks. There is in fact a CTO who is very supportive.

> Don't try to make everyone happy.

Excellent point, I am thinking of printing that out and framing it somewhere.