How to work with a non-helpful tech lead?

Question

We are a small team of engineers under a tech lead. This tech lead has other small teams under him in addition to ours. The techlead is extremely knowledgeable and is a 10x engineer pushing code everyday. The problem is he does not share his knowledge nor is he approachable. Whenever we try to ask him a question, we get a question back in return which is extremely domain specific and would require his level of expertise to answer in the first place. The morale in the team is low to the point where everyone just avoids asking him any questions until the very end.

How does one approach and succeed in this situation?

Alex Chiou · Accepted Answer

You need to give feedback to your manager, so they can give feedback to the tech lead. If necessary, rally others on your team to also give feedback to make this a concerted effort and more likely to succeed. If this is truly a common problem, this should be possible.

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As mentioned in the threads, empathy is important. This engineer seems extremely capable and invaluable to your time - It would be a shame to lose him. The onus isn't purely on him to help you, it's also on you to help him. There's a good chance he doesn't have the time or mental energy to unwrap his expertise and share it with you. Think of ways you and your teammates can alleviate some of his burden, so he's in a better position to help all of you.

How to work with a non-helpful tech lead?

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