Lead Developer and informal CTO of Benchmark.games here. I always thought i will only write code and do a bunch of planning, but all of a sudden i found myself leading a small developer team of 3 people, and making technical decisions that affect our little company (12 people and growing).
My biggest challenge is balancing my developer and leader roles. I still like to code; if i’d have the time i’d still do everything myself. Not because i don’t trust my team but i enjoy this the most. Making decisions is easy for me although not always quick. Showing the way for others is much harder. What helps me much is having two kids: being part of the “leadership team” at home helps a lot at my job, too.
I wouldn’t say i had hard lessons. I learned that the best thing for the company is not always the best for my team and that sometimes you need to let a customer or business partner go to actually grow the company. It’s funny how i lived my life along this rule for a decade, yet it was hard to apply it to my work.
Right now i’m trying to improve my leadership skills. I consider myself a good leader, but that’s not always enough. My team is about to have more people soon, and some other teams within the company are also growing and we must work together smoothly. Without being a great leader, it won’t be possible.
I don’t really use any resources for this. We have a great CEO who shows good example for all of us. We hire people with good communications skill, as we all know communication is key both within a team, within the company as a whole, and between the company and our clients and partners.
All in all, this transformation helps me develop myself, too. I still don’t think i will sit in a leader-only position ever, but being a part-time head of a team is not that bad.