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Tech lead leaving - advice for last meeting

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Mid-Level Software Engineer [L4] at Taro Communitya month ago

My L7 tech lead has decided to quit. I have a 30 minute 1:1 meeting scheduled with him. I want to maximize this time. Any suggestions for what to ask/discuss during this time?

I’ve already asked him to ping my manager with a peer review that can be used during perf.

Note: I’m an L4

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Discussion

(2 comments)
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    Collaborative Tarodactyl
    Taro Community
    a month ago

    First, try your best to connect with him on LinkedIn and use the remaining time you have with him to keep a solid rapport. If the relationship is less-than-ideal or toxic, then don't put too much weight on this.

    It sounds like you're treating this as your last chance to get advice from your TL, when it doesn't have to be.

    Second, I would try and get as much insight as to who will be taking over the L7's responsibilities. Anything to help you adjust to him no longer being on the team.

  • 0
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    Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
    a month ago

    30 minutes is really not a lot of time - It definitely won't be enough for an in-depth knowledge transfer. Your goals here should be primarily two-fold:

    1. Leave the relationship on a good note - If you liked the TL, thank them for their work and at the very least, connect on LinkedIn if you haven't already. If you had a really good relationship, try to connect on something like Facebook/WhatsApp.
    2. Get high-level wisdom - Ask broad strokes questions like "What do you think is the biggest problem facing the team?". These kinds of insights are both critical to grow from L4 to L5 while also being uniquely suited to be presented by very senior engineers (L6+).

    Don't ask stuff like "Hey do I debug XYZ issues in service ABC which you owned?" as 30 minutes isn't enough to go sufficiently deep into nitty-gritty. Hopefully the L7 left behind a wealth of documentation to help the team absorb his offboarding. If he hasn't, then well, it's too late (good luck in this case).