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Ask HN: Am I the only Developer who's turned down offers to become a Tech Lead?

• bluestix 14y ago
  Unless it pays a lot more it's not worth it.
• log0 14y ago
  You are not alone, though I'm not one, but taking more responsibilities could mean more business trips, etc, which would contradict your list of priorities such as "being with your family more and watch your 1 year old kid grow". Some of my friends have taken a very conscious choice to NOT get promoted. Another good example is to keep working in the coding, rather than spending more time in people. This is pretty OK in US (assuming you're in), but much less viable in China in general, where most people expects you to be managing people than developing.
• bryanp 14y ago
  There's usually a lobotomy to be had somewhere between dev and lead. At least, that's been my experience. Do what you love and don't be pressured.
• fooooobar 14y ago
  I'd be tempted if it meant a significant pay raise and/or a very real expectation less coding and more design. I certainly wouldn't want to do it if there was no significant pay raise or the expectation was that I would be a tech/team lead but still have to log 40 hours a week of coding. > It seems to have surprised a bunch of people in the management so I'm getting second thoughts about whether I'm doing the right thing by bucking this trend. That could easily just mean you have a better perspective on things than a bunch of business majors, for all we know. I would ask them why they want you to be a team lead over other people, and how it would make your life any less stressful or more enjoyable or interesting or how it would benefit you in a tangible way. Tell them to sell it to you! At any place I've worked, there was this definite division, where once you got above a team lead, your actual programing skydived and you seemed to only attend meetings. I think that would be nice and low stress.
• gigantor 14y ago
  There are the obvious benefits to taking the role, but here some reasons I have turned down a similar role in the past: * By the time you're good enough to be a tech lead, you may want to venture into consulting/contracting and earn more * You may be in a position of trading development time for managerial duties, which you may or may not enjoy * Depending on the politics, lead dev may be just below the proverbial corporate ladder glass ceiling * A lead dev may ultimately spend more hours working to solve a particularly challenging technical problem, which may rest on your shoulders * You may want to work somewhere else as an 'architect'. This is a very subjective job description, but could propel you faster if your aim is to climb the HR corporate ladder * If the development environment is lacking now for you as a senior dev, it will lack just as equally as a lead dev
• pm24601 14y ago
  Shape the position. Don't let the position shape you.
• pm24601 14y ago
  Shape the position. Don't let the position shape you.
• ChuckMcM 14y ago
  Yes, you should take the role. Here is my reasoning, Tech leadership is different than tech development, very different. You cannot know if you have the skills to do it without trying it and giving it a shot. If you want to build something bigger than something you can build yourself, you will need help. If you need help you will need provide leadership to that help so that your vision is realized. Communicating technical vision, while still being open to modifications of that vision, is a hugely valuable skill, worth double what you are currently making in salary. So if you have the support of your management, and you go in saying "I'm just trying this out and don't get too comfortable here cuz I might suck at it." you will be able to 'safely' find your strengths (or weaknesses). Its important that you do this without getting an actual 'promotion' because if you aren't promoted then you won't need to be demoted if it doesn't work out. Your management gets to 'try it on' without risk and everyone wins. If you do have this strength you can consider other paths in your career than the ones available with only coding skills. What you do not want to do is get 'trapped' above your skill level. Which is to say you get promoted to a place where you can't be effective and the only option at that point is to leave.
• valdiorn 14y ago
  Personally, I have no interest in bearing responsibility for anyone except for myself and the work I do. I love to do what I do, I'm vocal in meetings and I try to shape peoples vision of the future of our products (I work in the financial sector). That does not mean I want to make it a full time job. I have no desire, at least not at this time, to be anything more than I am today; a capable and creative developer that is part of a larger team. I leave it to someone else to manage our mess :)
• ja27 14y ago
  The management types above you will never understand why you wouldn't want to move "up" the ladder to management. That's the way they're wired. If you're a techie, you may never be able to think, talk, and act the way that they do. Don't fool yourself into thinking you can take the tech lead title and pay but keep coding. That's hugely frustrating. Read pg's essay Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule. You'll never have enough uninterrupted time during the day to be a maker, so you'll spend your days being a manager and nights trying to be a maker and do neither well. If you're going to be a tech lead, you need to drop coding and make a clean break to management.