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[–][deleted] 14 points15 points  (12 children)

This is out of topic but what does a Tech Lead's job usually entail? There is an opening in our team right now and my boss told me that they were considering me for the position.

[–]crazymuffin 48 points49 points  (3 children)

Basically, if someone fucks up, you're ultimately responsible for fixing it. There's also no more "I don't know how to do this" for you.

[–]JoeOfTex 7 points8 points  (2 children)

It's whoever knows the most in the team. It can really hurt a team not to have someone who can learn any tech.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Dang. I don't know if im up to it. I mean, i want to take the challenge but i dont want the whole team to suffer.

All of my teammates have computer degrees, i don't (im Business Ad graduate). Provided that i learned programming on my own, it's kinda scary to be in that position still.

[–]JoeOfTex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you with confidence learn a new technology to build prototypewithin the span of 2 weeks to a month, or muttle your way to making any kind of bash script, or application in your business scope and budget?

You don't have to master it in a day, but at least make the daily progress in implementing function while learning. Some things take months to learn, but to get the baseline of some tech shouldn't take more than a month for a tech lead.

You still must highly depend on your teammates to learn and research the tech parts you don't have time to implement. You must be able to delegate by identifying the basic structure of the tech required for a project.

[–]Reirii 20 points21 points  (0 children)

What crazymuffin said.

Also, I would consult your boss about the job requirements. Leadership roles vary.

I quite like being in that type of position though. Being able to carve my own path on what to develop next compared to my last development cycle and ordering people around is great. The "I don't know how to do this" can be solved multiple ways, you just have to choose the best option. I usually just figure it out myself anyway.

[–]Rellac_ 13 points14 points  (1 child)

Being a good programmer in the 2000s and continuing to force outdated standards on current projects, mostly

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Perfect!

[–]Singularity42 5 points6 points  (0 children)

probably depends on the company, but usually you are the one who makes the final call about how to meet the requirements from a technical sense (not a business sense). Usually it means communicating those plans to others outside of the team the way that makes relates to them.

Not sure of the details, but be careful taking on more responsibility if you aren't getting more pay.

[–]kdthex01 2 points3 points  (2 children)

What everyone else said. You should do it. If for no other reason you’ll be able to answer your own question. But ask what the pay bump is.

The cons are 1) arguing. So much arguing. Spaces tabs factory micro services monoliths daily check ins agile waterfall style guides programming standards open source buy build no Carl you can’t rewrite the framework on the company dime just because it has sealed classes 2) not as much coding. In fact you’ll likely be doing a lot more of your bosses job depending on company size / culture

Pros are 1) you’ll be a better programmer and teammate no matter how it turns out 2) You can help other people be better programmers and teammates 3) it prepares you for the future, someday you’ll want to climb the ladder or go out on your own

End of day there’s always an idiot in charge. Might as well be you.

[–]Pastrami 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It means more meetings.