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Discussion on: What is a Team Lead? What is a Tech Lead? Are they the same or different?

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cristinaruth profile image
Cristina Ruth

Hmm. Why do you think that a tech lead does not need to mentor people? Can you expand further what you think the roles of a Tech Lead is vs a Team Lead?

In my mind, a Tech Lead mostly attends meetings and helps setting requirements specifically because they understand the technical aspects of the work, and for estimates and requirements to be realistic, there needs to be a technical person to do the consulting with the non-technical people (product owners/customers).

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Elliott Miller

Tech lead's can be a position where someone is considered the primary expert on a particular piece of technology but operates solo. It can be the case that the role involves teaching or nurturing others, but it is not a specific requirement. The reason this role might exist is if the person working it is an expert at a piece of technology that does not require a larger team, or if they must remain flexible and change assignments often. In that case, things like too many meetings and/or spending extra time doing PR reviews would bog things down.