A former colleague of mine recently spoke to me asking for tips on how to bargain for a promotion to tech lead during his upcoming appraisal. He had put in good time as a developer but growth was simply not happening. Instead of boring him with real time gyan, I pointed him to this blog.

It is no great shakes getting a promotion to team lead with all the broad based growth that the industry is witnessing. Don't agree ? Read on to find out how…

Become a good developer: Before a person can move up she needs to be at least in the top 25 percentile performance wise in her current job. This is true even if the skills needed to succeed in the higher role has nothing to do with the current skill set. So brush dust your skills, gain new ones that are relevant, fill up gaps, work harder…do whatever it takes to be a recognized as a decent developer. Once you have done this half the job is done. 

Show leadership even as a developer: You need to show leadership even *before* you are made a leader. The peer engineers in your group need to start accepting you as 'leader' even without you being formally appointed as one. To enable this, the first point above is critical. On the softer side, be friendly, approachable and lead by example since you do not yet have the authority. If you are getting butterflies in the stomach when you think of leading, try using informal and relaxed settings like team outings to exercise leadership. Ultimately, the softer aspects of leadership are transferable from one context to another. So go ahead and play the role without Mr.Big Boss asking you to do so. Just ensure you are not stepping on your current tech lead's shoes.     

Up skill consciously: Go to your HR portal and read up the job description of tech lead. Skill wise you will need to have at least some of the skill sets that are one level above your current level of responsibility. Eg. If the person is a software engineer she would need to know the basics of estimation, design and basic architecture (team lead responsibilities).

Gain Visibility: Gain visibility two levels higher that your current level. Eg. If you are an engineer desiring to be a lead, make sure that your lead's boss understands your contribution. In case you face political hurdles, this will help your case. You can use the following techniques:
-Formal skip level meetings (if your org allows that). If not request an audience.
-Suggest process improvements that go beyond your project.
-Conduct a cross project technical training session.
-Speak up during team meetings and other organizational events. Ask a pertinent question, raise a common concern. Put your hand up!
-Study new trends and publish an internal "knowledge management" article on it.
-Step back and see the big picture. Once your project is over, put together a small five page document on the learnings and share it with the folks around you.

Understand the big picture: Technical leadership is about being able to see the big picture in the project lifecycle, besides things like coding and testing. So go to your company's process repository, pull out the CMM documents that talk about quality aspects and learn and apply these on your job.

Make your tech lead look good:  A good strategy would be to complement your tech lead in an area where he is relatively less confident while letting him lead the team otherwise. Say your lead is not all that great in Javascript coding, develop a strength here and use that to complement him. This will ensure that you a). Make him look good b). Let him realize the value you are bringing to the table. Just ensure you do not let him feel outclassed.

Do your impression management: Impression management might sound dirty, but it is not. Ultimately, perception is reality. I do not mean stupid things like taking a note book to the men's room, but things like dressing more professionally than your peers. Developers can afford to wear jeans on Monday morning, but you will rarely find a delivery manager who does it. So ensure a). You dress like a tech lead. b). Come to office earlier than your leads/managers. c). Leave office later than your leads/managers. d).Keep the small talk strategic: Speak about the latest trends, world issues rather then regular chit chat.