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Comment by mikesabbagh | Hacker News Reader

I used to be a happy developer, working on my tickets and that was it. until I was asked to act as a tech lead and a sort of PO (I still dont know what i am) Now, I need to plan what needs to be done, manage the tickets for the team, be the scrum master and all that. My life is much more stressful and I still make the same $ amount. But funnily, I like it

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May be you should rethink about being tech lead. Even if they pay you more which would be about at max 20% of individual developer tech lead is not worth it. It limits your future prospects as a developer. As an IC you have far more opportunists and can switch jobs anywhere from 30 to 50% hike. But with the tech lead position switching jobs is not easy. But the most important problem is time. You spend so much time in managing which you could invest in honing your skills or updating your skills. In my experience being IC gives lots of freedom and the time invested is always useful in honing the tech skills.

While it's great that you are enjoying it, I can't help but feel that an increase in responsability should come with a small pay bump.

same on tech lead front. unfortunately it makes my imposter syndrome worse because im never the most knowledgeable dev on the low level details.

Yeah I have found that experience too. You will get questions directed to you expecting expertise but some non-lead developer will actually be the expert. It's a funny one because there is nothing wrong with that situation but the 'tech lead' moniker contributes to the stress.

agreed 100%

I’m in an analogous position. Added responsibility can give a lot of drive and meaning which can outweigh a bit of associated stress.

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