The Best Managers Acquire Power To Give It Away

- Even though the manager is an authority figure, the best engineering managers *acquire power to give it away*.
- What this means is they will establish ownership over a space and then give control of it to an engineer on their team to help them grow. This is especially important growing engineers to senior levels and beyond.
- By making the engineers on the team share authority, the team becomes more resilient, so that it doesn't collapse when the manager is out.
- Alex's Instagram example:
  - The oncall in his org was very weak and unhealthy.
  - His manager got the ball rolling and collected a working group of senior+ engineers and managers to align on the problem and agree to solving it.
  - After his manager established a sphere of influence here, they handed it over to Alex to lead the entire effort and successfully revamp the oncall system for ~25 mobile engineers.
  - Manager easily could have led this effort themselves but chose to delegate to Alex, so that he could build authority in this area.

Related resources:
- ["Why would a senior make themselves replaceable?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/b5eUTVq4m9ANQ5QCUc3q/why-would-a-senior-make-themselves-replaceable/)
- [Why Great Engineering Managers Are Like Captain America](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/a9s0fUXIWxm8sPigvXnL/why-great-engineering-managers-are-like-captain-america/)
- [What Makes A Truly Great Tech Lead - A VP of Engineering's Perspective](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/uHqZZ15SK19MatEvLSO6/what-makes-a-truly-great-tech-lead-a-vp-of-engineerings-perspective/)

The Cardinal Sin Of Management: Micromanaging

This segment outlines why micromanagement is a hallmark of poor engineering leadership and how effective managers empower their teams instead of controlling them. It offers a comprehensive look at how hands-off, trust-based leadership enables better team performance and growth.

- **Micromanagement is a red flag**: Hovering over engineers’ work or constantly asking for status updates wastes time, erodes trust, and stifles ownership.
- **Effective managers lead through trust and empowerment**: Autonomy allows engineers to make decisions and own outcomes, with structured check-ins (e.g., weekly or bi-weekly) to stay aligned.
- **Staying out of technical weeds is critical**: A manager's role should focus on people, not code reviews, engineering meetings, or day-to-day task assignments—those should be handled by tech leads or the engineers themselves.
- **Micromanagement creates systemic risks**: It builds dependency, slows down team velocity, and makes the manager a single point of failure. If the manager leaves, the team may lack the tools or confidence to function independently.
- **Lack of trust leads to poor career growth**: Engineers under micromanagement are less likely to take initiative or learn leadership skills, hindering their path to promotion and long-term development.

How Top Tech Companies Handle Management Transitions Differently

This video highlights the nuanced and often sensitive dynamics of engineering manager transitions within tech teams, using Facebook as a case study. It explores how both internal promotions and external hires can be challenging and how strong companies approach the shift with transparency and collaboration.

- **Internal promotions can create awkward dynamics**: When someone from a team of peers is promoted to manager, the shift in role—especially around performance reviews, compensation, and trust—can feel uncomfortable.
- **External hires lack context**: Bringing in a new manager from outside the team can also be disruptive, as they need time to understand the team’s dynamics, working styles, and personalities.
- **Facebook uses a “team consent” model**: At Facebook, any potential new manager—whether internal or external—essentially interviews with the team they would manage. The team's agreement is required before finalizing the transition.
- **Two-way relationship emphasized**: It’s not just the company or leadership choosing a manager; reports also have a say in who manages them. If someone objects, alternative reporting arrangements can be made.
- **Manager-report alignment matters**: The process underlines the belief that management relationships must be mutually respectful and compatible in order to be effective.

What Too Many Companies Don’t Get: Management IS NOT A Promotion

Most tech companies have no idea what they're doing when it comes to engineering managers and overall leadership culture. One of the clearest ways this is reflected is how engineering manager is positioned within the company hierarchy.

Here are the core points:

- **Management is NOT a promotion** - Becoming an engineering manager is about adding value to the overall engineering in a different way. It's not about "moving up" or "controlling the engineers". *A trademark sign of bad companies is that they position the switch into management as moving up the corporate ladder.* The problem with this is that employees then switch into management for the wrong reasons, chasing money and power. This leads to an unhealthy dynamic between engineers and manager as engineers are "beneath" the manager, usually leading to the manager treating them as expendable and burning them out.
- **Top companies have separate SWE and EM tracks** - In companies like FAANG, both staying as an individual contributor (IC) software engineer and becoming an engineering manager are valid career paths with the same ceilings. This means that for every management level (manager, director, VP), there is an equivalent software engineering level with a similar amount of compensation.

Related resources:

- [How Do Effective Engineering Leaders Help Their Teams Achieve More?](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/xGJDCG7VL4hcZaq5XL92/how-do-effective-engineering-leaders-help-their-teams-achieve-more/)
- ["What do career levels structure in big tech company look like? What are the responsibilities for each level?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/qV5oikdcgs4GWmGeousX/what-do-career-levels-structure-in-big-tech-company-look-like-what-are-the-responsibilities-for-each-level/)

Signs Of A Healthy Manager 1 on 1 Meeting

- **Golden standard**: Weekly 30-45 minute meeting
  - Bi-weekly can be okay, but weekly is ideal. Anything less frequent than bi-weekly is a red flag.
  - This should be recurring and scheduled, not ad-hoc.
- The meeting should feel proactive instead of reactive.
  - Reactive 1 on 1s happen when the meeting has no agenda beforehand.
  - The discussion should be focused and talking about future themes for you and your career like growth and career goals.
- The meeting isn't purely tactical: This is a time for you and your manager to build trust and get to know one another.
- The time should feel "awkward". Some "awkward" areas include:
  - Honest feedback
  - Emotions 

Related resources:
- [1 on 1s Are The Time To Be Awkward](https://link.jointaro.com/kuS9keFuUwRJk9rSA)
- ["How do I help my manager (who is also my mentor) be a better manager and mentor?"](https://link.jointaro.com/72SzjBb9HW1S46Dx8)
- ["How do I create a growth plan with my manager/mentor and what should it include?"](https://link.jointaro.com/fude3eS1nJwcMSp9A)

Your Great Engineering Manager Will Eventually Leave You 🥺

Even when a highly capable and supportive engineering manager is found, the relationship often has a built-in expiration date. This video explains why strong EMs tend to move up quickly and what that means for their reports. Here are the core points from the lesson:

- **Great EMs focus on long-term growth**: A strong manager prioritizes their engineers' success, fostering an environment that supports both team and individual development.
- **Fast career growth is common for top EMs**: Exceptional managers are often promoted quickly, typically within 1–2 years, due to their high impact and leadership abilities.
- **Promotion changes reporting structure**: When promoted to senior engineering manager, EMs typically move from directly managing engineers to managing other managers, altering team dynamics.
- **ICs often lose direct access**: Most engineers will start reporting to a new manager, while their original EM becomes a “skip-level” manager—only senior ICs may continue reporting directly.
- **Disruption of strong relationships**: The transition can be disheartening for ICs who thrived under the original EM, especially when that connection was key to their growth.

The Rare Insight Top Tech Companies Have About Engineering Managers

Most engineering managers [EMs] are bad and aren't much more than glorified, overpaid whip-crackers. Here's what the world's best tech companies realize about engineering management that other companies don't.

Here are the core points:
- **Good EMs think long-term** - It's really easy to burn out the team for short-term gains, just working them harder and harder so everything ships quickly. However, this isn't hard to do and sacrifices the future of the team. Teams run this way eventually reach a state of weak productivity due to high turnover and completely drained engineers. Good EMs strive to operate their teams in a sustainable way, taking care of their engineers while also pushing for velocity.
- **Good tech companies hold EMs accountable** - In particular, EMs are expected to uphold the overall health and integrity of their teams. Companies like Meta explicitly score managers on how well they are able to give their engineers growth opportunities, preserve their work-life balance, and shield them from thrash so they have the focus to execute.

Related resources:
- [[Masterclass] What Software Engineers Should Look For In Their Engineering Manager](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/oeY7ncZhzJ5NO6dij5e7/masterclass-what-software-engineers-should-look-for-in-their-engineering-manager/) - The full video where this clip was taken from
- [How Do Effective Engineering Leaders Help Their Teams Achieve More?](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/xGJDCG7VL4hcZaq5XL92/how-do-effective-engineering-leaders-help-their-teams-achieve-more/)
- ["How do I figure out whether I should stay as an IC engineer or explore management as an EM?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/Y6qIop9wpOlCYUL0nGs0/how-do-i-figure-out-whether-i-should-stay-as-an-ic-engineer-or-explore-management-as-an-em/)
- ["What are the commonalities and differences between tech leads and engineering managers?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/c3MLGlkQgOQ6OUHANAxT/what-are-the-commonalities-and-differences-between-tech-leads-and-engineering-managers/)

This Is Why Most Engineering Managers Are Terrible

Let's not mince words: Most engineering managers suck. But why is that? This video covers:

- Why the incentives don't align between engineering managers and engineers
- What the best tech companies like FAANG do to make their engineering managers not suck (i.e. make them align the incentives between management and ICs)
- How the absolute best engineering managers balance the responsibilities of leadership with the needs of their team in a healthy way

To learn more about the software engineering -&gt; engineering manager transition, check out our playlist: [\[Taro Top 10\] Software Engineer To Engineering Manager (IC -&gt; M Track)](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/oz0mnJvHHgM8NfVF7rgp/)

Why Becoming A Good Engineering Manager Is So Hard

Becoming an engineering manager (EM) is a major career shift that’s both difficult to achieve and hard to excel at. This video outlines why the role is rare, what background is typically required, and how drastically different it is from being a software engineer.

- **EMs are in short supply**: The pool of strong engineering managers is even smaller than that of strong engineers, making it hard for companies to hire great EMs.
- **Strong engineering background is essential**: Most capable EMs started out as senior or staff-level engineers, often operating as tech leads before transitioning into management.
- **High entry barriers**: Given the requirement for both technical excellence and people skills, very few engineers are qualified to move into the EM role.
- **Only 20% skill transfer**: On average, just a fifth of the skills from a software engineering background apply directly to engineering management—making the job feel brand new.
- **Steep learning curve**: Many new EMs are surprised at how little their past experience as engineers prepares them for the demands of management, which requires a vastly different skill set.

Related resources:

- [\[Taro Top 10\] Software Engineer To Engineering Manager (IC -&gt; M Track)](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/oz0mnJvHHgM8NfVF7rgp/)
- [\[Case Study\] Mentoring Junior SWEs \[E3\] to Senior \[E5\] In Just 2.5 Years At Meta](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/EX9563YnxcJb62cCmetg/case-study-mentoring-junior-swes-e3-to-senior-e5-in-just-25-years-at-meta/)

This Is How Software Engineers Should Initially Learn

- Learn depth-wise initially, and then you can go breadth-wise after you become a very established senior engineer.
- If you don't know what you're passionate about, try a bunch of things out (go for breadth) until you find that passion.
- After finding your passion, go deep on it.
- You need to commit a long period of time to just 1 thing initially, so you start learning fundamentals as opposed to tech stack-specific tactical pieces.
- *You will eventually realize that all tech stacks are the same in many ways* - All languages and tech stacks share a common set of fundamentals. You will not get to this state if you switch stacks every year.

Related resources:
- [How The Best Software Engineers Learn A Tech Stack - The Lego Model](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/9cVK5zsAQstbTCc1wrWx/how-the-best-software-engineers-learn-a-tech-stack-the-lego-model/)
- ["How do you get more independent?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/FUP3gHb7rv9CXc84LaKn/how-do-you-get-more-independent/)
- ["How can I write great code faster?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/ciE9a2TZ7rZNyYP8HbeJ/how-can-i-write-great-code-faster/)

Creating A Portfolio That Makes Recruiters Come To You

Building a personal portfolio looks nice and feels good, but it *rarely* helps engineers find jobs. In this video, we cover how you can truly stand out as a software engineer and make the jobs come to you (instead of the other way around).

Here are the core points:
- Building a portfolio website can be a nice exercise, but don't spend too much time on it. *Don't expect to get any inbound recruiter reach outs due to your portfolio site*. There is no real central repository of them that recruiters browse.
- In terms of what recruiters do browse, it's primarily LinkedIn. If you have this portfolio energy, it's much better spent polishing your LinkedIn profile instead.
- At the end of the day, a portfolio website is resume++. This means that your foundation is still your resume: Make sure your resume is *extremely* sharp before you even consider building a portfolio website.
- Alex found a lot of success having his Google Play developer page be a portfolio as it hosted real, verifiable products on it. Since his side projects got millions of installs combined, he's gotten reach outs from top companies like Uber, Square, and Instacart through his Google Play developer email.

Related resources:
- ["What technologies or stacks should I create a project to add in my resume for entry level software jobs?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/c0DiG5ureLbkZ1mKD9Rf/what-technologies-or-stacks-should-i-create-a-project-to-add-in-my-resume-for-entry-level-software-jobs/)
- ["I want to land a job in a big tech as a SWE - How to do it?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/MWJfUBnnUr8CKYFCO8bp/i-want-to-land-a-job-in-a-big-tech-as-a-swe-how-to-do-it/)
- ["Can Github stars grab big tech recruiters' attention?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/XaUn4XuIBMSmrr5fcHIT/can-github-stars-grab-big-tech-recruiters-attention/)

How To Get FAANG Interviews

Getting into FAANG is the dream of most software engineers in the world. However, it's much easier said than done, and there's a lot of misinformation about what Big Tech companies look for in interview candidates.

Here are the main points from the video:
- **It's near impossible to break in as a junior dev** - The demand (i.e. the number of junior engineers looking to break into FAANG) far outstrips the supply (the number of L3 and SDE 1 level FAANG openings). If you don't have a warm lead like a strong referral, a DEI program you qualified for, a Big Tech internship to covert, or a career fair at your prestigious university, you can easily spend hours applying into a black hole. *If you've already tried many times and you can't get in, just stop.* 
- **You don't need to get into FAANG right now** - Your career is a marathon, not a sprint. You can get into FAANG later in your career; don't compare yourself to others who made it in early and become obsessed with Big Tech. Focus on growing yourself as a software engineer, and you will eventually make it in.
- **Get past 2 YOE** - If you live in a relevant geography (e.g. SF Bay Area, London) and have more than 2 years of experience, Big Tech companies will generally start reaching out to you. This is because hiring junior engineers is very risky, and Big Tech generally likes to rely on converting interns to fill out that pool. Once you cross 2 YOE, you are considered mid-level and a more worthwhile hire.
- **Build massive side projects** - There is one "nuclear" level you can pull if you really want to get into FAANG ASAP, and that's making a side project with 10k+ users. Alex was able to do this, and he knew a few college dropouts who got into FAANG early doing the same. [Here's our masterclass on how Alex built side projects with 500k+ users](https://link.jointaro.com/fGuprKS4HT7VpVBL9).
- **Make major open-source contributions** - Big Tech has very strong open-source culture, so they have a lot of public libraries you can contribute to on GitHub. They monitor the pull requests into these libraries for potential talent, and many engineers get in that way. However, this is much easier said than done, and side projects are generally more approachable for junior software engineers.

Related resources:
- [The Pros And Cons Of Working At FAANG And Big Tech](https://link.jointaro.com/bw1bEKRxmZPXKiQP9)
- ["What technologies or stacks should I create a project to add in my resume for entry level software jobs?"](https://link.jointaro.com/A9Vugp1jcNQEsvaMA)
- [How To Ace Your Big Tech Interview [Data Structures & Algorithms]](https://link.jointaro.com/iTNxPCvkdGite4wT9)

Balancing Time Between Your Job And Self Learning

Many engineers hear about personal projects (side projects) as a way to accelerate career growth but are confused about how to allocate time for these projects. This video covers a few strategies to balance time between your day job and self-learning. 

1. **Avoid a Binary Approach:** Don't view your day job and side projects as completely distinct: ideally, the work you do in one is good for the other. This can manifest not only in terms of the skills you're building, but also your enthusiasm for writing code or understanding a domain in more detail. Productivity and fulfillment are often maximized when one can excel at work and pursue personal projects simultaneously.

2. **Learning Integration:** Integrate your learning from both day job and personal projects. The knowledge gained in one domain can be applied to the other, so you become better at both!

3. **Effective Self-Learning:** Passive content consumption, such as watching videos or reading blog posts without active engagement, is ineffective for learning. Instead, explain concepts to others or build something to truly benefit from self-learning.

4. **Company-Career Mismatch:** In larger organizations, the company's objectives may not always align with individual career goals. The responsibility for your personal career growth is yours -- don't delegate this to the company! That's why you need to invest in self-learning and personal projects to build the skills and experiences necessary that are best for you.

5. **Enjoyable Self-Learning:** Instead of focusing on the balance between work and personal learning, find ways to make self-learning a fun and fulfilling experience. Common ways this manifests: hitting the publish button, seeing the download count on your app go up, or seeing comments on a blog post you wrote.

Like most things career-related, you should take a proactive approach to career development. Self-learning is no different!

Related resources: 

- [\[Masterclass\] How To Build And Grow Tech Products To 500k+ Users For Free](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/OEuX0KMhcnNSTJ50Voee/masterclass-how-to-build-and-grow-tech-products-to-500k-users-for-free/)
- [How should I set time apart for learning new things?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/FjmcvlTJYssSd5wH2pij/how-should-i-set-time-apart-for-learning-new-things/)
- [How Long to Crank Out a Decent Side Project?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/QA6lCGdPpwAd3xRrpjZ7/how-long-to-crank-out-a-decent-side-project/)
-

Strategies To Stop Procrastination

Procrastination: We all become masters of it in school, and for almost all of it, this terrible habit will continue long into our careers. This video covers how you can combat procrastination and maximize your work productivity.

Here are the key points from the video:

- Break down your overall goal into smaller pieces and strive to do just 1-2 pieces of it per day.
- Write things down! Clarity leads to action.
- After every week, reflect on how you spent your time.
- Find an accountability partner. Pair with someone else and commit to sharing progress updates with one another every single day. This social pressure will motivate you to do work as you don't want to be the person going into that meeting with no progress.
- Introspect and ask yourself if you're truly excited about the thing you're doing. If you're not, you might need to find that true passion.

Related resources:

- [\[Masterclass\] How To Manage Your Time Optimally In Tech And Achieve More Results](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/rnX9EKpzc43TgGW9MozG/how-to-manage-your-time-optimally-in-tech-and-achieve-more-results-792021/) 
- [A Powerful Tool For Software Engineer Productivity - Focus Blocks](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/uGdn2AiDfn3B07FkpIVR/a-powerful-tool-for-software-engineer-productivity-focus-blocks/)
- ["How do I optimize my sacred hour at work?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/l8dzUVTu99CahofQsYAi/how-do-i-optimize-my-sacred-hour-at-work/)

Why Your Manager Sucks, And What You Can Do As A Software Engineer

Rockstar Software Engineer Story: SW2 -> Principal In Just 4 Years

In this lesson, we discuss a "rockstar" engineer case study, wherein he joined Mixpanel as a level 2 Software Engineer, and received 4 promotions in 4 years to become a Principal Tech Lead Manager (TLM).

- Key to his success was the ability to make rapid progress on one of the company's top priorities: reduce infrastructure spend.
- He had a hypothesis that the majority of the cost incurred came from a few customers where the economics were backward for Mixpanel.
- Rather than solving a gnarly technical problem, the engineer worked with these customers to change their use of compute resources, resulting in massive savings for the company.

For more resources about becoming a rockstar engineer:

- ["What's the core insight behind quick growth?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/nJ762p255cGyuth36H6w/whats-the-core-insight-behind-quick-growth/)
- ["What's the difference between a low performer software engineer and a high performer?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/nMxx2EMVIlJbl1oK4SGu/whats-the-difference-between-a-low-performer-software-engineer-and-a-high-performer/)
- [Mentoring Junior SWEs \[E3\] to Senior \[E5\] In Just 2.5 Years At Meta](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/EX9563YnxcJb62cCmetg/case-study-mentoring-junior-swes-e3-to-senior-e5-in-just-25-years-at-meta/)

How Effectively Do Big Tech Engineers Perform In Startups?

In this lesson we talk about how engineers from big tech companies perform when transitioning to startups, and what hiring managers should look for when bringing in FAANG talent.

- **The sweet spot is 2-6 years of big tech experience** — engineers in this range bring the best of both worlds: they've been screened for talent and learned strong software engineering fundamentals at top companies, but haven't spent so long there that they've become rigid in their thinking or problem-framing approaches that may not apply in a startup environment.
- **Very senior big tech hires often struggle with the transition** — engineers who've spent many years at large companies can develop highly specific ways of doing things that don't translate well to startup constraints, making cultural and operational fit more challenging despite their technical depth.
- **Big tech experience becomes an asset when there's a specific scaling need** — senior hires excel when the startup has a concrete problem that matches their domain expertise, such as building infrastructure for massive consumer scale or managing rapidly exploding engineering teams, where their direct experience from companies like Facebook becomes immediately applicable.

How To Effectively Leverage Skip Level 1:1s

In this lesson, we discuss that the "skip" is the person that your manager reports to - It's what happens when you "skip" your manager when going up your reporting chain. 1 on 1 meetings with your skip are tricky as you can't talk to them the same way you would to your direct manager:

Here's how you can get maximum value from your skip 1 on 1s:

- **Understand your organization's overall strategy** - Since your skip is operating at a higher-altitude, they will be naturally well equipped to answer this question. Ask them what their priorities are, and you can then weave them into your own work to increase your impact.
- **Share "on the ground" insights** - Skips are generally pretty disconnected from nuts and bolts day-to-day work due to their seniority. As an IC, you are well-equipped to share what that experience is like as that's your life. This is really valuable, if you can come up with insights on how to improve this experience.
- **Be honest with feedback** - There's not much value sucking up to your skip and telling them that they're great and everything is going great because of that. Be candid and unafraid to share real problems with how the organization functions.

Related resources:

- ["How to make the most out of Director/VP/Exec office hours?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/GSihcOIzyP4sq5Gp1pWb/how-to-make-the-most-out-of-directorvpexec-office-hours/)
- ["Topics to talk in 1:1 with skip level manager?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/yK1UiPgm1EElzHRIqlM8/topics-to-talk-in-11-with-skip-level-manager/)
- ["What should I discuss in first 1:1 with my skip-level manager?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/WjBisBXMwLrSGO0mpR56/what-should-i-discuss-in-first-11-with-my-skip-level-manager/)

How Managers Split Their Time Between High/Medium/Low Performers

In this lesson, David Pan talks about how managers should split their time between high, medium, and low performers.

David argues that managers should **spend the majority of their time with high performers**, as they are the ones who are most likely to drive the team's success. However, David also argues that managers should not neglect medium and low performers, as they can still contribute to the team's success with the right support.

- 📈 **For high performers**, managers should focus on providing opportunities for growth and development.
- 🙂 **For medium performers**, managers should provide feedback and coaching.
- 😔 **For low performers**, managers should provide support and resources to help them improve their performance. If their poor performance is sustained, they should be removed from the team to avoid a negative impact on the rest of the team.

High performers typically do 80% of the work, while medium performers do 30% of the work. That means the low performers are contributing -10%!

Related resources:

- ["How to manage a team towards high performance?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/O8vtGxsrwZebiSSlOlRd/how-to-manage-a-team-towards-high-performance/)
- ["How does Stack Ranking work (at FAANG) and how can I be proactive at a base level?"](https://www.jointaro.com/question/lScy3l2NPIrWvRuHOjcF/how-does-stack-ranking-work-at-faang-and-how-can-i-be-proactive-at-a-base-level/)

What People Get Wrong About The Manager To Software Engineer Relationship

In this lesson, we discuss the common mistake that senior engineers commit, which is that they continue to assume that the manager is an authority figure.

This is often the case, but doesn't have to be. David talks about a case in his past job where an IC on the team was more senior than him as the manager. And the IC engineer was objectively more important to the team, indicating the value of this senior-level person not only to getting work done, but also setting direction and giving feedback to others.

Senior engineers should view the relationship with the manager as a partnership rather than a person for whom they must *follow orders*. **The tech lead and manager have different but overlapping responsibilities in helping the team succeed**. Realizing this unlocks a more fruitful collaboration.

Remember, managers will frequently have blind spots that a tech lead can point out. These insights and observations may manifest in actually pushing back on the manager's plans or strategy. This is a role that senior engineers should embrace.

- More from David: <https://www.jointaro.com/topic/david-pan/>
- [Onboarding as a Tech Lead at Robinhood in 1 Month](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/X8vpfJooDpsX915ouC00/case-study-becoming-a-tech-lead-again-in-just-1-month-after-joining-robinhood-from-meta/)
- [The EM "Partner In Crime": The Tech Lead](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/uZQZlS6tdXbztajM0tqa/the-em-partner-in-crime-the-tech-lead/)

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.