Staying a Tech Lead Who Codes — Balancing Craft and Vision

🧠 Staying a Tech Lead Who Codes — Balancing Craft and Vision

Becoming a Tech Lead is a turning point in a developer’s career. It’s more than a title — it’s a shift in mindset. You stop coding just to deliver, and start coding to guide. But that transition often raises a question: Do I have to stop coding?

I don’t think so. In fact, stopping completely would be a mistake.

💻 Code Is More Than Just Output

As a Tech Lead, you’ll talk about architecture, processes, and priorities. But code remains the shared language between those who design and those who build.

Continuing to write code — even a little — helps you:

• Stay connected to real-world constraints,
• Keep your technical credibility intact,
• And most importantly, teach by example.

A good Tech Lead doesn’t write all the code — they model what good code looks like.

🧩 From Code to Vision

Coding as a Tech Lead doesn’t mean doing the work yourself. It means illustrating the principles you advocate.

// Example: a validation pipeline in a .NET 8 Minimal API
app.MapPost("/orders", async (CreateOrderDto dto, IOrderService service) =>
{
    return await Result
        .Ok(dto)
        .Ensure(d => d.Amount > 0, "Amount must be positive")
        .BindAsync(service.CreateAsync)
        .Match(Results.Ok, Results.BadRequest);
});

This isn’t about showing off — it’s about setting a standard: code that’s expressive, testable, and coherent.

Every line demonstrates a design value: clarity, intent, and simplicity. That’s where a Tech Lead’s role truly shines — turning vision into tangible practices.

🧠 The Balance Between Craft and Leadership

The common trap is moving entirely to management: no code, no context, no connection to the product. An effective Tech Lead is a tightrope walker — balancing craft and delivery.

What to keep doing:

• Read and review code,
• Explore new practices (DevContainers, testing, observability),
• Run pair programming or mob sessions,
• And code just enough to stay sharp.

One well-chosen day of coding per week can fuel your technical leadership for months.

🚀 Influence Without Authority

Technical leadership isn’t about hierarchy. It’s about influence through skill, trust, and consistency. You don’t command — you guide.

The best decisions rarely come from the Tech Lead alone, but from teams that share the same technical values. And those values can’t be taught through slides — they’re shown through code, collaboration, and curiosity.

🧭 In Closing

A Tech Lead who stops coding becomes a manager. A Tech Lead who can’t delegate becomes a bottleneck. The balance lies in between.

Coding remains a leadership act. Not to deliver faster — but to inspire confidence. Not to prove your worth — but to grow others through example.

That’s what being a craft-oriented Tech Lead is all about: building systems, yes — but above all, building capable developers.

✍️ Bonus – Simple Ways to Stay in the Code

• Schedule one pair programming session per week
• Maintain an internal boilerplate or reusable library
• Review at least one strategic PR per sprint
• Keep a personal playground or POC project
• Write one technical article per month (like this one 😉)