Reflections as a Newbie Tech Lead

I originally wrote this post in Chinese on Xiaohongshu (小红书) in February 2025, where it received a wonderful response with many likes and saves. To reach a wider audience, I’ve translated it into English and shared it here. I hope you find it useful!

Since Jul 2021, I’ve been working for three and a half years, and I’ve spent nearly 1.5 of those years in a tech lead role. Over the past six months, I’ve gradually transitioned into a team lead position, learning a lot — both technical and non-technical. Here, from the perspective of a technically-oriented newbie leader, I’d like to share some of my takeaways.

1. Keeping Your Technical Skills Sharp Is Not Easy for a New Tech Lead

Transitioning into a tech lead role usually happens because of strong technical ability. But for newcomers — especially younger ones — their technical edge often comes more from grinding hard than from deep accumulated experience. Once you become a tech lead, the demand for technical breadth skyrockets: you need to help team members solve all kinds of problems. The pace of technical growth and problem-solving ability that was previously “good enough” may no longer cut it. At this point, you must consciously push yourself to learn new technologies faster, dive into unfamiliar problems more efficiently, and refine the small habits that impact your effectiveness.

2. Be the First to Explore New Platforms and Technologies

In my view, when a new tech lead encounters a new platform or technology, they should always be the first to jump in. On one hand, pioneering new platforms is inherently difficult — this kind of tough nut needs to be cracked by the tech lead. A tech lead should leverage their sharp technical instincts to help the team navigate early pitfalls and identify key issues, so that when it’s handed off to others, only minimal follow-up is needed. On the other hand, if you don’t understand the platform yourself, trying to step in and direct things later becomes very difficult. People may see you as out of your depth and lose confidence in you — especially if you’re a young tech lead.

3. Don’t Be Afraid of Conflict

If a tech lead could just stay at the technical level and let the work speak for itself (which is already hard enough), then as a team lead, trying to completely avoid conflict is nearly impossible. In fact, since I became a tech lead, almost everyone on the team has had arguments with me at some point — including my own leader. In my view, a team without disagreements is a team without vitality. If everyone always agrees, what do you even need a whole team for? What matters is how you navigate or even harness conflict to lead people toward doing the right — and often the hard — thing. Behind every argument is a difference of opinion. How to use disagreements to draw out diverse perspectives and ultimately build alignment is something every leader must continuously think about and practice.

4. Staying Approachable Is Crucial

Until a few months ago, I loved using my so-called “sharp” thinking to immediately point out problems the moment someone shared an idea, and then offer a more efficient path. Gradually, I realized this was making everyone conform to my way of thinking — the team was becoming a clone of me. When people talked to me, their reasoning was carefully curated; they would hide the uncertain parts, the parts most likely to expose mistakes. This is dangerous. Many critical details, potential opportunities, and shifts in team morale become invisible to you. And your relationships suffer too — people don’t even want to chat with you outside of work. So I’ve come to realize that staying deliberately approachable is essential. Don’t immediately shoot down others’ ideas. Don’t fixate on small mistakes. Never make people afraid to express what they truly think in front of you. Let people feel safe to communicate, safe to make mistakes, and free to have their own unique space — that’s what gives a team real energy.

5. Personal Character Matters — A Lot

I once saw an image that vividly illustrated the difference between a boss and a leader: the boss sits on a carriage, whipping subordinates to pull the cart, while the leader stands at the front, pulling alongside everyone. Frankly, I have no respect for the “boss” type. I believe everyone should aspire to be a leader, not a boss.

Even though I’m the team lead, I’m actually the second youngest person on the team — the oldest member is nearly 20 years my senior. Given my experience, encountering resistance while leading the team is perfectly normal. Fortunately, this pushed me to start practicing influence without authority early on. I believe authority can be a useful tool for a leader, but relying solely on authority to lead people is a recipe for total failure. The moment you leave that position, you’ll quickly learn what it feels like when people treat you differently.

A good leader should consciously avoid leveraging the privileges of their position. Instead, understand people’s needs, find common interests between individuals and the team, and make people want to embrace your ideas and create greater value together. Beyond that, lead by example — teach through competence, inspire through conduct. I believe a leader can be lenient with others but must be strict with themselves. That’s why I almost never skip morning standup. When the team has an important task and teammates are there, I won’t leave either — even if I’m just sitting there, I’ll stay.

Finally, being a leader is just one role at work. In life, you absolutely cannot expect to lead everyone’s thoughts and emotions at all times. If you can only find your sense of purpose at work, you’ll end up losing more than you gain in life. Every person is a vivid, independent individual. Through working together, I’ve come to see the real sides of everyone — their sensitivity, vulnerability, strength, resilience, selfishness, selflessness… and they can see mine too. Truly appreciating the uniqueness of every person around you, and making people want to work with you because of who you are — that’s what matters most.