This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Cesar Aguirre
Being a team leader requires more than just being good at coding
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. But anyway.
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.
How to make 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 — Say goodbye to what you like to do the most:
- Daily meetings and SCRUM ceremonies with your team.
- Daily meetings with all other leaders.
- 1-on-1s with every team member.
- 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.
Covering your team leader during their vacation is the perfect way to test the leadership waters. You don’t have the same pressure as a “real” team leader. You will only do it for one or two weeks. And once the team leader is back, you’re also back to coding. No risk at all.
Those four ideas 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. The same as a movie director.
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If You Enjoy Coding, Think Twice About Joining the Management Track was originally published in Level Up Coding on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Cesar Aguirre
Cesar Aguirre | Sciencx (2025-01-19T20:27:40+00:00) If You Enjoy Coding, Think Twice About Joining the Management Track. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/01/19/if-you-enjoy-coding-think-twice-about-joining-the-management-track/
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