Guide
How to become a team lead as a developer
At some point many developers face the question: do I want to lead? Moving into a team lead role changes what a good day looks like: you write fewer commits, have more conversations and measure success by the team's results. This guide explains what the role involves, how to prepare while you're still a developer, and how to get through your first months.
Short answer
Start leading before you have the title. Run refinement sessions, mentor juniors, own a cross-team project, write down technical decisions and handle stakeholder questions. Tell your manager you're interested and ask what's missing. Once you're in the role, spend your first 90 days listening, building trust in 1:1s and fixing one visible friction point for the team.
Team lead, tech lead or engineering manager?
The titles overlap and every company defines them differently. Broadly:
- Tech lead: responsible for the technical direction of a team. Still codes a large part of the time. Guards architecture, quality and technical decisions.
- Team lead: a mix of technical and people leadership. Coordinates the work, runs team rituals, supports team members, and is often the first point of contact for product and stakeholders.
- Engineering manager: focused on people, hiring, performance and team health. Codes little or not at all.
Before you apply, ask what the role means in your company. "Team lead" can mean anything from senior developer with extra meetings to full people manager.
Is leadership right for you?
Leadership suits developers who get energy from helping others succeed. Ask yourself:
- Do I enjoy explaining things and seeing someone else get it?
- Am I comfortable with fewer hours of deep focus and more context switching?
- Can I find satisfaction in a team result I didn't build myself?
- Am I willing to have difficult conversations?
Not wanting to lead is a perfectly valid choice. Many companies offer a technical track (staff or principal engineer) with growth in scope and pay. Both paths start with the same skills: ownership, communication and trust.
The skills you need
Communication and storytelling
A team lead translates between developers, product, design and management. You explain why the team is doing something, what the trade-offs are and what it means for deadlines. A clear story builds trust and alignment.
Running a team process
Refinement, planning, stand-ups, retrospectives. You don't need to run them all yourself, but you need to make sure they work. Our sister site Beyond Commit has a free list of retrospective questions for engineering teams you can use straight away.
Giving feedback
Specific, timely, kind and honest. Feedback is how people grow, and holding it back is a disservice.
Delegating
Hand out work that stretches people, including work you could do faster yourself. Then support without taking over.
Decision-making
Gather input, decide, write down why, and move on. Teams stall when nobody decides.
How to prepare in your current role
You don't need the title to start practising. Most team leads were already doing parts of the job before they got it.
- Tell your manager. Say you're interested in leadership and ask what you'd need to show. Make it a recurring topic in your 1:1s.
- Mentor a junior. Pair regularly, review their code with care and help them grow.
- Run a ritual. Offer to facilitate refinement or a retrospective.
- Own a project across teams. A migration or feature with dependencies teaches coordination and stakeholder management.
- Write things down. Decision records, onboarding docs, how-tos. Writing scales your influence.
- Handle the hard conversations. Push back on unrealistic deadlines with data. Raise problems early.
- Learn from people in the role. Ask a team lead you admire how they spend their week.
Your first 90 days
Days 1–30: listen
Have a 1:1 with every team member. Ask what's working, what's frustrating, and what they want to learn. Meet your stakeholders. Resist the urge to change things straight away.
Days 31–60: build trust
Set up a rhythm of regular 1:1s. Agree on how the team communicates and makes decisions. Pick one visible friction point (slow reviews, unclear tickets, too many meetings) and fix it with the team.
Days 61–90: set direction
Share what you've learned and where you want to take the team. Agree on goals with your manager. Reflect on your own role: how much do you still code, and is that the right amount?
Mistakes new team leads make
Common mistake
Staying the best coder on the team
Fix: Your output now is the team's output. Pick up fewer critical-path tickets and unblock others instead.
Common mistake
Avoiding conflict
Fix: Small issues grow when ignored. Address them early, privately and specifically.
Common mistake
Changing everything at once
Fix: Understand why things are the way they are before you change them.
Common mistake
Forgetting your own support
Fix: Find a peer group or mentor outside your team. Leading can feel lonely at first.
Frequently asked questions
How many years of experience do you need to become a team lead?
There's no fixed number. Many team leads have five to ten years of experience, but readiness depends on ownership, communication and trust. I became a team lead six years after starting as a junior.
What is the difference between a tech lead and a team lead?
A tech lead focuses on technical direction and still codes a lot. A team lead combines technical leadership with coordinating the work and supporting team members. Definitions vary per company.
Do team leads still write code?
Usually yes, though less than before. How much depends on team size, the company and how the role is defined.
How do I tell my manager I want to become a team lead?
Bring it up in a 1:1, say what attracts you to the role, and ask what you'd need to demonstrate. Then agree on concrete steps, such as mentoring or running a ritual.
What if I don't want to manage people?
Look at the technical track: senior, staff and principal engineer roles grow your scope and impact without people management.