There are three points of view here, so let’s first look from the perspective of a manager who hire React developer and works with a tech lead. Then – separately from the position of the developer, whom the tech lead helps on technical issues, and after that – from other tech leads.
Manager’s Point of View
The first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is that a good tech lead should have the expertise, that is, knowledge of technologies and openness to learning new ones. Secondly, he is responsible for what he does.
That is, the manager must have confidence in the technical lead on technical issues so as not to delve into them. The second obvious point from a manager’s point of view is understanding the business.
It is important that the tech lead not only comes up with a complex solution according to the terms of reference but, if necessary, can revise it in order to do it not in 2 months but in 2 days. Do the right thing, but don’t do the extra.
Businesses for a tech lead consist of two important points. This is immersion in the product: understanding who its consumer is, what his main pains are, how to solve these problems, and how the product makes money. And involvement – the tech lead should be interested in what is happening with the product and, in general, with the business.
Developer’s Point of View
This is usually simple. As a rule, junior developers want specific technical experience and advice on what they are facing. And at the middle level, developers need an interlocutor with whom they can discuss architecture and technology. That is the outlook and advice on the use of a particular approach.
Other Tech Leads’ Point of View
Many guys talked about their passion for their work. Tech leads are constantly working to improve their knowledge. They are ready to share this with colleagues, not only within the company but also outside.
They participate in conferences and in communities and develop not only themselves but also others. And in general, this is a good way to structure your knowledge.
What Everyone Agrees On
The points of view of the manager, developer, and other tech leaders converge on two points: calling and passion and high performance.
A colleague I asked this question even compared a cool tech lead to an entrepreneur who mortgages his apartment to get a business loan. So the tech lead is ready to look for the missing partition in Kafka at night or deal with some difficult problem.
How to Develop?
After the guys answered the first question, I asked: “What should I do to become a good tech lead and how to develop?”
World Model
Each person has some model of the world. For example, if he is faced with a problem related to data storage, he believes that in order to solve this problem, you need to use a certain approach to creating a data warehouse.
Therefore, it is very important not to switch to a technical dispute when you are offered something, but it seems to you that this is not quite what you imagined. The best tactic would be:
- Do not take the word even of older colleagues who have more experience. See in the code how it actually works.
- Use controversy to refine your model of the world.
- If you are wrong, then take a break and understand why you thought so and update your world model.
Learn New Technologies
To stand still, you need to run very fast, especially in great net development companies like Fireart (https://fireart.studio/net-development-services/). If you stop developing, you stop. A good tech lead needs a genuine interest in learning new technologies so that it doesn’t end up boring.
Soft Skills
Think about what motivates your colleagues? What are they working for? In most surveys, the top answers about colleagues in the first and second places are money.
If people answer silently, then they put interesting tasks in the same places, their diversity and complexity, and good relations with colleagues and superiors. Why do we think so?
Feedback
It is very important to collect feedback from colleagues. If you do not have such surveys, then conduct them yourself or ask the leaders. It’s even better through them because it’s easier for people to give feedback anonymously.
Not evaluative, but informing feedback works well. For myself, I developed 3 useful questions for feedback:
- What should I continue to do?
- What should I start doing?
- What should I stop doing?
