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I've never seen "team lead" as a management role. Team lead is more of technical tie-breaker role on technical decisions. It's not a management role if you can'

I've never seen "team lead" as a management role. Team lead is more of technical tie-breaker role on technical decisions. It's not a management role if you can't fire someone.

gamesbrainiac 6y ago
I was a Team Lead, and I could fire someone, but that firing would be handled by HR. Also in Europe, you can't fire people at will like you can in the US, which is a lot more humane.
gambiting 6y ago
I am a team lead and I'm definitely a manager - 80% of my time is managing people, not making technical decisions, that's more for technical directors(who in turn do not manage anyone). And why would managers be able to fire people though? I can recommend that someone be let go to HR, but ultimately that's not up to managers. The process takes at least 6 months unless for gross misconduct anyway, it's far too complex to be up to a single person.
- danaris 6y ago
  This sounds a lot like differences in individual companies' organizational structures—I bet there are some where a "team lead" is more of a "first among equals," while others, as you describe, are primarily managing their group of technical specialists of whatever stripe. Similarly, in some organizations, managers tell HR, "We should fire this person," while in others, they tell HR, "Hey, I just fired this person."
  - gamesbrainiac 6y ago
    I've never ever felt anything other than a first-among-equals as a lead. I've learned so much from my team, and I'm proud of where my former team members are now. I dont intend to be anything else should I become a manager again,
- sriram_sun 6y ago
  If you don't have the title, you are (voluntarily?) taking a pay cut relative to someone else in your company who has a manager title.
  - gambiting 6y ago
    There isn't anyone at the entire company with a manager title. It doesn't exist. Well, that's not quite true - we have a "discipline manager" who works with HR but he doesn't actually manage anyone. Team leads are equivalent to what I read managers are in other companies.
cplanas 6y ago
In my company, "team lead" is definitely a management role: an entry-level one, but still management. For technical tie-breaking we have a different position, "tech lead".

I've never seen "team lead" as a management role. Team lead is more of technical tie-breaker role on technical decisions. It's not a management role if you can't fire someone.

gamesbrainiac 6y ago

I was a Team Lead, and I could fire someone, but that firing would be handled by HR. Also in Europe, you can't fire people at will like you can in the US, which is a lot more humane.

gambiting 6y ago

I am a team lead and I'm definitely a manager - 80% of my time is managing people, not making technical decisions, that's more for technical directors(who in turn do not manage anyone). And why would managers be able to fire people though? I can recommend that someone be let go to HR, but ultimately that's not up to managers. The process takes at least 6 months unless for gross misconduct anyway, it's far too complex to be up to a single person.

danaris 6y ago
This sounds a lot like differences in individual companies' organizational structures—I bet there are some where a "team lead" is more of a "first among equals," while others, as you describe, are primarily managing their group of technical specialists of whatever stripe. Similarly, in some organizations, managers tell HR, "We should fire this person," while in others, they tell HR, "Hey, I just fired this person."
- gamesbrainiac 6y ago
  I've never ever felt anything other than a first-among-equals as a lead. I've learned so much from my team, and I'm proud of where my former team members are now. I dont intend to be anything else should I become a manager again,
sriram_sun 6y ago
If you don't have the title, you are (voluntarily?) taking a pay cut relative to someone else in your company who has a manager title.
- gambiting 6y ago
  There isn't anyone at the entire company with a manager title. It doesn't exist. Well, that's not quite true - we have a "discipline manager" who works with HR but he doesn't actually manage anyone. Team leads are equivalent to what I read managers are in other companies.

cplanas 6y ago

In my company, "team lead" is definitely a management role: an entry-level one, but still management. For technical tie-breaking we have a different position, "tech lead".