A tech lead is someone who has two main roles — they are a skilled technical worker, and they also take on a leadership position within the team. So a tech lead not only does hands-on technical work themselves.
Some key responsibilities of a tech lead:
- They oversee the technical aspects of a software team
- Making the architectural and design decisions
- Guiding team members in technical matters
- Making sure the project keeps moving forward
- Maintaining the app’s quality for both users and developers
In simpler terms, the tech lead drives the project forward, sets the direction where the project is going, and clears any potential programming hurdles that may arise — whether bridging the technical knowledge gaps between team members, finding solutions to business requirements, or making sure the workflow of the app you are building makes sense.
As a tech lead, you will have to divide your time between:
- Planning
- Coding
You will still write code, but that is not your main responsibility anymore.
What skills does a tech lead need?
A tech lead is a skilled developer, leader, and architect at the same time. You will need to learn the following skills to be effective.
As a leader, you will need:
- Supervising
- Delegating tasks
- Evaluating risks
- Resolving conflicts
- Communicating clearly and leading the team
- Managing projects and dealing with crises
- Providing technical direction and making key decisions
- Taking ownership and having a vision for the project
As a developer:
- Expertise in the programming language you are using
- Knowing what tech debt looks like
- Performance analysis
- Design patterns
- Understanding software design and testing systems
As an architect:
- Technical assessment of features being requested
- Release management
- Cloud architecture design
- Overseeing development cycles
- Solving problems and coming up with new ideas