For those working in the IT field or just interested in it, a common question often bothers me: How do I become a team leader? The fact is that this is a rather promising and highly paid job, which consists in managing a team working on a certain project. However, despite numerous advantages, it will not suit everyone. After all, for a really good Team Lead, it is important to have leadership qualities and be able to communicate well. In addition, such a person must have excellent technical skills and know everything not only from theory, but also from practice. As you can see, there are many requirements, but for ambitious individuals with considerable experience and skills, such a position will definitely be interesting. However, first it is advisable to learn as much information as possible about it in order to decide whether it is suitable for you or not.
Who is this man?
From the very name of this specialty, it is clear that a team leader is, first of all, a leader, the main person in a team. His competence includes management of a group of programmers and other specialists performing a certain project. He is responsible for coordinated work at all stages and for the final result. The Team Lead does not perform the functions of a developer, but he must have a thorough knowledge of the technical side of the issue. In addition, he often takes part in the work on the architecture of the code, and can also do code reviews or develop certain tasks that are characterized by increased complexity. Some people confuse Team Lead with Tech Lead, but the difference is that the latter focuses purely on the technical side of the issue, but it has nothing to do with management. Thus, in essence, a team leader is a successful combination of a project manager and a qualified developer.
How to become a successful team leader
Team Lead in IT is first of all a person with a strong professional background in this field. Therefore, this profession is unlikely to be suitable for beginners and sweaters. But experience alone is not the only reason to become a team leader, because he must have a set of certain skills. As for Hard Skills, in this case it is about perfect knowledge of the code, architecture, various methodologies and technologies, which directly depends on the quality of the task. The soft skills of team members should also be at a fairly high level. It is about:
- Leadership skills;
- Ability to work in a team;
- Communication skills;
- Responsibility;
- Empathy;
- Initiative.
Management skills are very important in the work of a Team Lead, because they help coordinate the work of the entire team and achieve the final goal in accordance with the needs of the customer.
Duties and tasks
The work of a leader is very responsible, so it is not surprising that a team leader has quite a lot of responsibilities. This specialist:
- participates in the development of project documentation;
- develops tasks and responsibilities for all project executors;
- supervises the work of the team;
- deals with code verification;
- seeks motivation for employees;
- is in constant contact with stakeholders and management;
- writes reports on completed tasks;
- evaluates the work of each performer and the group as a whole, develops a strategy for its improvement.
As can be seen from this list, the Team Lead performs both administrative and technical functions, but the former still prevail. Usually, the working day of such a specialist is very busy. First, he analyzes current tasks and distributes their implementation among team members. In addition, he participates in planned meetings with direct customers and senior managers. During the day, the team also solves many technical issues, for example, those related to architecture or code verification. He can also partially deal with programming, especially if there is a difficult case or "deadlines are burning".
Pros and cons of the position of team leader
The position of team leader has many advantages. Here are some of the highlights:
- high demand on the labor market;
- good salary;
- excellent career prospects;
- the opportunity to develop various skills and abilities that will be useful in many related and not only professions.
Despite such significant advantages, there were also disadvantages. Therefore, those who consider the position of Team Lead for themselves should also remember the disadvantages:
- very big responsibility;
- high level of stress;
- the need to constantly quickly switch to different tasks;
- burnout due to communication with a large number of people;
- irregular schedule, the need to work overtime.
Salary level
According to the latest data published by the profile resource DOU, the average salary of a team leader in Ukraine is $5,320. Over the last six months, it has grown by a little more than $100. Since the most highly paid professions related to the programming languages Scala, Go and Rust are currently the highest paid, then, accordingly, the Team Lead, who works with similar projects, also gets a chance to earn more.
As for global practice, here the average salary of this specialist is usually higher. For example, in the USA, a team player earns an average of about $119,000 a year, in Great Britain £32,978, and in France $50,701. Very attractive salary for Australian specialists: $80,000-100,000. However, the indicated figures are very relative, because everything depends on the region, the company and the competence of a particular specialist.
Career growth
The work of Team Lead provides very valuable experience, which definitely contributes to advancement on the career ladder. As a rule, the scenario develops in two directions. For example, a team member who is more interested in the technical side can become an architect (Software Architect). As statistics show, about 17% of Team Leads choose this path. But those who discovered a good manager in themselves are recommended to try themselves as a Project Manager. According to statistics, this profession is much more popular, because it is chosen by about 47%. In addition, it is always a good option to stay in the position of Team Lead, because this profession is not only prestigious, but also gives room for development.
Who is not suitable for the position of team leader?
Only the ability to code perfectly and perfect knowledge of modern Kanban, Agile and Scrum methodologies are not all that a future team leader needs to know and be able to do. This profession cannot be called universal, and it is not suitable for all people. The following signs indicate that it is better for a person to abandon the idea of becoming a Team Lead:
- lack of knowledge and desire to study the subject in order to understand the needs of the client and the specifics of his business;
- problems with communication with other people, inability to correctly convey thoughts to others;
- inability to cope with stress;
- low empathy;
- lack of independence, lack of initiative;
- inability to recognize one's own mistakes and correct them;
- inability to productively resolve conflict situations.
Experts have found that a Team Lead who does not perform his duties well enough negatively affects team productivity and generally reduces it by about 5-10%. As a result, the company ends up losing significant amounts of money.
Tips for beginner team members
A Team Lead who is just starting a career in this position in IT risks facing a whole series of challenges. Therefore, to facilitate this path, young professionals can be given several important tips:
- Don't take on too much or solve technical problems yourself if you can delegate them to other people.
- Trust your intuition, which is based on previous experience.
- Try to prioritize and estimate correctly.
- Do not be overly distracted by unplanned work, concentrate on the main goal.
- Build trusting relationships with team members.
- Maintain a high culture of communication and relationships and try to be a role model.
In addition to the listed points, it should also be noted that continuous learning is of great importance for a team leader. Especially if he is a beginner. In a similar situation, specialized literature will help, namely:
- Tom Demarco. Deadline. A novel about project management.
- Daniel Kahneman. Thinking is fast and slow.
- Patrick Lencioni. 5 weaknesses of the team.
- Donella Meadows. The alphabet of systems thinking.
- Jeff Sutherland. Scrum. Learn to do twice as much in less time.
- Daniel Goleman. Emotional intelligence.
- Chris Bailey. Year of performance.
In addition, it will be useful to regularly upgrade your technical skills, be interested in new trends and implement them in practice, because you should not forget that a team leader is not only an effective manager, but also a good developer.
