I originally posted this post on my blog a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
It took me 10 years to learn this lesson:
The higher up you go, the less it's about coding and more about all other skills.
Being the best at coding won't get you higher on the corporate ladder. Well, the corporate ladder is a trap.
Unfortunately, few places offer growth opportunities for coders, and even fewer for those who don't want the management track.
Every place has its own expectations for team leaders or managers.
In some places, the team leader role is divided between:
- someone technical in charge of coding and architecture decisions, and
- someone non-technical in charge of project management.
In other places, a team leader wears all hats, often for the same pay.
Making the jump into a leadership role
If you enjoy coding and are thinking about joining the management track, start by understanding that your role as a team leader is more like a movie director than an actor.
Your job is not to appear on screen, except for some cameos. Your job is to make sure your movie gets done as expected and on time.
For that, you'll need coding skills. Sure. But much stronger soft skills.
You'll spend most of your time in meetings, not coding:
- Daily meetings with your team,
- 1-on-1s with every team member,
- Daily meetings with all other leaders,
- Sync ups with project managers and product people
Once you understand you're the director, not the best actor, show your interest in exploring the role with your team leader during your 1-on-1s or performance reviews.
Then, find easy and cheap ways to validate if being a team leader is a role you'd enjoy:
- Organize and tidy up your project board
- Cover your team leader during their vacation
- Be the onboarding buddy for new team members
- Coordinate efforts to complete a feature from requirements to deployment
That will force you out of your "coding" comfort zone into the soft skill-heavy zone.
As a leader, you're not responsible for your own code anymore. You're responsible for all other coders and the code they write.
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Top comments (8)
That is why so many people are building SAAS since it's much easier and provides passive income if there is a market validation. Plus, this is the best time to do Indie hacking.
I don't know much about corporate but a lot of popular open source startups have small teams and I prefer those compared to big ones.
You're right! I'm definitely taking the solopreneurship route too...
I've seen big and small teams...but definitely a big fan of small teams.
Agreed. Hence those "advices" like: stop coding right now! The more you advance, the less you code. These are good advices if you plan to climb the business ladder, but not if what you really like is "just" coding.
You're right! Lessons learned when I flirted with the idea of joining the management track at a past job.
I'd say don't be afraid to take opportunities for "advancement", but also don't be afraid to decide when something isn't for you, and look for opportunities to reset back to a role that suits you better. How well that will work might depend on your organization, but there's a good chance you'll end up in a better position for it. At least you'll have had the opportunity to see what "management" is like. There's a saying that you will "rise to the level of your incompetence", meaning you'll keep getting promoted until you're in a position you suck at. That's something to watch out for and be very careful of. One of the worst things you can do is remain in a position long-term that you suck at and/or that you hate.
I was promoted to a "lead engineer" role in 2021, and that was the "wear all hats" sort of role where I was managing people, running standups, doing one-on-ones, doing performance reviews, etc, while also making the major technical decisions and writing a lot of the code. I didn't like the people management part much (and doing all of that got a bit overwhelming). I had an honest discussion with my manager about that and now I'm mainly back doing individual contributor stuff, while keeping my title and raise. I do still get pulled in to lead initiatives once in a while, usually when something is going off the rails.
I like doing technical leadership and some amount of mentorship, but I did find that being a full fledged "manager" on top of that wasn't for me (I also hadn't really expected that when I accepted the promotion, I thought it was going to be technical leadership, sometimes the line blurs I suppose).
Spot on! The easiest and most risk-free opportunity is covering the leader while they're out. You got a chance to test the role for a fixed time and go back to coding.
Been there and done that! Spoiler alter: I burned out.
Glad it worked for you that way. I've seen ICs turned managers that ended up burning out and leaving the company...the team lost a coder and a leader, while felling behind schedule.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Great additions!
Nice work, keep it up
Thanks!