Tech Lead Blueprint 17/17 - Conclusion

Connect with Lalit on LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/lalitkundu/>

Tech Lead Blueprint 8/17 - Delegating The Work

Tech Lead Blueprint 5/17 - TL Duties

Tech Lead Blueprint 2/17 - Course Structure

How To Be An Effective Tech Lead [Part 14] - Manage Expectations

As a tech lead, you will have a ton of things to do and not a ton of time. Because of this, you need to be crystal clear about what you're working on, why you're working on it, and when you're going to have that work done. This lesson teaches you:

- The danger and hugely negative consequences of mismanaging expectations
- Proactive mechanisms you can use to maintain alignment around expectations
- How to properly react and communicate when expectations are falling through

How To Be An Effective Tech Lead [Part 12] - Foster Trust

Trust or social capital is the primary currency you need to get anything done as a tech lead. This lesson teaches you:

- Why fostering trust is so important for team efficiency, explained through a simple example
- How to build up trust when things aren't going perfectly (which will inevitably happen to you as a tech lead)
- How to build up trust when things are going well, taking full advantage of positive momentum

Learn how to build deep relationships fast here: [\[Masterclass\] How To Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/tyaPFMXPoz2pmzB7OVzt/masterclass-how-to-build-deep-relationships-quickly-in-tech/)

How To Be An Effective Tech Lead [Part 11] - Set The Direction

One of the crowning growth moments for software engineers is when they become less focused on *how* to get where they need to be and more focused on *where* they should be going to begin with. That direction component is a huge part of a tech lead's responsibilities. This lesson teaches you:

- What it means to define good direction for a project
- The components behind effective direction-setting for a project
- How to decompose a goal into actionable items
- The ingredients behind empowering your team to work cohesively

To dive deeper into project management: [\[Taro Top 10\] Project Management](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/4CtqCnUYwqedd0my2EEw/)

How To Be An Effective Tech Lead [Part 10] - Be An Excellent Communicator

One way to envision your role as a tech lead is that you're the "glue" that holds the team together. The core way that glue manifests is through your communication. This lesson teaches you:

- Why excellent communication is vital towards "conducting the orchestra"
- How to communicate empathetically
- How to communicate clearly
- The right amount to communicate (it's often higher than you think)

Turn yourself into a communication master with our course: [\[Course\] Effective Communication For Engineers](https://www.jointaro.com/course/effective-communication-for-engineers/)

How To Be An Effective Tech Lead [Part 9] - It's All About The Team

The best tech leads are selfless, not selfish. But what exactly does that mean? This lesson teaches you:

- The proper mindset to have as a tech **lead**
- A simple mental model to understand your overall goal as a tech leader
- How to divide up work as a tech lead
- What sort of tasks you should take on within a project as a tech lead

How To Be An Effective Tech Lead [Part 5] - Think High-Level, Plan Long-Term

As a software engineer, it's way too easy to get lost in the weeds, fixating on details that ultimately don't matter. As a tech lead, you need to avoid rabbit holes like the plague. This lesson teaches you:

- The overall mindset tech leads must have when planning through and executing a project
- What it actually means to see the forest, not just the trees, with a detailed example from Jocelin's past
- How to own the overarching goal behind a project or workstream
- How to thoroughly think through dependencies

The Really Important Job Interview Questions Engineers Should Ask (But Don't)

Basic questions that engineers should ask when interviewing at any company. 

From the Posthog blog: <https://posthog.com/founders/what-to-ask-in-interviews>

Maximizing a Severance Package 8/9 - Can You Sue?

- Connect with [Ethan on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/)
- Taro members get a discount to join [**Ethan's Level Up community**](https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/taro25)

Maximizing a Severance Package 4/9 - Never Accept on the Spot

During a termination, don't sign anything on the spot. **Buy time.** Buy time to do your research, to prepare, and to come back and negotiate.

- Connect with [**Ethan on LinkedIn**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/)
- Taro members get a discount to join [**Ethan's Level Up community**](https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/taro25)

[Timeless Career Advice] Mid Year and End of Year Reviews

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 28] - Final Words Of Encouragement

Congratulations, you made it to the end of the course, **Become An Engineer Influencer**! Connect with Michael:

- LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-lin-tech/>
- Twitter: <https://x.com/\_michaellin>
- Newsletter: <https://www.michaellinwrites.com/>

Feel free to share any feedback on this course with us at [team@jointaro.com](mailto:team@jointaro.com). 

Share + get support on the Taro forum: [**joinTaro.com/questions/create/**](http://joinTaro.com/questions/create/)

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 11] - Advice, Passion, and Build In Public

Become An Engineer Influencer [Part 1] - What Is An Engineer Influencer?

An engineer influencer is an engineer who builds an audience on social media and uses that to kickstart their future startup or business.

Examples include:

- [Rahul Pandey](https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulPandeyrkp) - ex-Meta engineer, who leveraged his 60k followers on YouTube to launch Taro, a career-mentoring app that got into YCombinator

- [Gergely Orosz](https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz) - ex-Uber engineering manager, who used his Twitter following to grow his paid newsletter "The Pragmatic Engineer" to 140k readers in 18 months

- [Daniel Vassallo](https://twitter.com/dvassallo) - ex-Amazon engineer, who grew his following to 130k followers on Twitter and now teaches a highly successful cohort based class called "Portfolio of Small Bets"

Each of these engineer influencers focused on building their social media following first.

This helped them build credibility, expand their network, and guarantee them a distribution channel for their future product.

Connect with Michael:

- LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-lin-tech/>
- Twitter: [https://x.com/\_michaellin](https://x.com/%5C_michaellin)
- Newsletter: <https://www.michaellinwrites.com/>

Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer [Part 27] - Writing Your Packet

You have gone through the entire performance review cycle and done a ton of amazing work. So how do you now capture all the great things you've done so you have a great shot at promotion? This lesson teaches you:

- How to make writing your self-review/promotion packet easy (hint: it requires following the advice of this course)
- When to start writing your performance review materials
- How to work with your engineering manager to optimize the quality of your promotion packet

Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer [Part 25] - Timing: When To Amp Things Up?

Humans have terrible memory, and software engineers (+ engineering managers) are no exception. The annoying thing is that this greatly affects how you're judged in performance review. This lesson teaches you:

- The role recency bias plays in your promotion case
- How to spend your energy over time across the performance review cycle

Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer [Part 24] - Brag Journal

It is easy for people to lose track of all the great stuff you're doing as a software engineer, including you! This lesson teaches you:

- What a brag journal is
- The many reasons why brag journals are so beneficial, especially for promotion
- A lightweight "hack" you can do instead of maintaining an entirely separate brag journal

Tech Career Growth Videos

Our instructional videos provide software engineers with insights needed for career growth. Masterclasses go incredibly in-depth on a specific tech topic while case studies are real examples from established engineering leaders.