Direct code contributions as a tech lead
I am taking Lalit Kundu's course on TL Blueprint on Taro right now. Thanks for creating it. :)
I had a question since I joined as a "first time tech lead" in my company. Before this, my official title was Senior Software Engineer.
It's been a month for me in my new company and I had the chance to contribute to multiple threads. But could not directly have as major code contributions as I previously did. Wanted to understand if this is normal as a tech lead. In fact, most of my time goes reviewing designs and code rather than coding myself.
Actively trying to seek out / create such opportunities now for myself, like a deployment freeze manager I am planning to create so that deployments can get blocked or go through an additional layer of approval during freeze.
But there are several other burning things like lack of proper observability etc. which may not directly need me to code.
Thus, would be helpful to get any related advice on how I should approach this. Below is a short pie chart I created for things I worked on in my first month of joining. Also, worried a bit since we have review cycles approaching. Planning to discuss this with my manager as well.
Link to the pie chart [relevant to this question] : https://photos.app.goo.gl/4UBeaNnKHecQ7bCTA
Edit:
There is an item that is high priority, needs code to be written which I am planning to pick up this week, so should be sorted atleast wrt some contribution in terms of code.
But, still would like to understand how important it is for tech leads and is it okay for Tech Leads to be able to code lesser than what I did as a Senior Software Engineer.
Discussion
(4 comments)- 1a month agoStaff SWE @ YouTube, Engineering Mentor, SWE Guru
Looking at the breakdown of tasks, it's impressive you could do so much and get involved in various things in the first month at a company. A lot of ramping up for tech leads means getting acquainted with processes, designs, individuals, working groups and culture of the company. It makes sense to me that you had no time for coding!
But I would provide two alternative perspectives
- Two-pronged rampup: for ramping up in an area, no matter how senior/junior you are, I suggest tackling it from both ends (high-level designs, etc., but also low-level technologies, code stack). I have some more advice on this in this newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-onboard-new-technical-space-quickly-lalit-kundu/
- Long term balance for TLs: Depending on the domain, the org's needs, how large the influence area of a TL is, and archetype of TLs you may be writing tons of code or writing none at all. It's a big spectrum. On one end, you could be TL for a large team of 40+ engineers, leading multiple staff engineers on projects. You'll probably write a few strategy docs, review other's designs and review CL, with few coding contributions (depending on how much time you've left after meetings). On the other hand, you may be solving a deep technical problem with a small group of 3-4 engineers, not requiring large amounts of x-fn collab, in which case you'd be writing and reviewing tons of code. So, you have to see: are you a TL that solves coordination problems, or a TL that specializes in deep technical problem-solving. Most people lie somewhere in between.
Good luck, and hopefully you've been enjoying the course :)
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a month agoLead Software Engineer [L5] [OP]ZeptoThanks Lalit. This is really helpful. Also, yup. The course has been really great with lots of insights. 😃
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a month agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroTech leads writing less code happens almost all the time. This intuitively makes sense as if you're truly a lead, you are spending more time delegating and uplifting others, focusing on higher-leverage tasks like planning, building alignment, and determining project direction.
The question is how much code you can stop writing and that's... tricky. At Meta for example, you could get hurt in performance review if your commit count is too low, even if you were adding a ton of value in other ways: "Is it okay to have less technical complexity when growing to staff?"
My advice is to talk to your manager and ask them if it's okay that your commit count is low. Don't beat around the bush and specifically mention commit count:
- If they confidently and honestly say that it's fine (and you trust them), then you're fine
- If they say no or you sense some hesitation in their response, press them for what a healthy commit count looks like. From there, write that code. A very tactical piece of advice here is if you just need commit count, look for refactoring/code cleanup opportunities
- 1a month agoLead Software Engineer [L5] [OP]Zepto
Thanks Alex. This makes sense. Will do this in my next 1:1.
