Build Technical Competence Before You Lead

Whatever you do, don’t lead too early in your career.

If you try too hard, people will judge you. They wonder why you are taking so much responsibility, delegating, or giving opinions on things you know nothing about. There’s a first step before you should focus on leadership.

Build your technical competence.

Master your domain then lead.

Build your technical competence

Before you worry about leading, worry about mastering your domain.

What does it mean to be techcnially competent?

It means:

• You have the basic skills needed to perform your job at a high level.
• Your work is mostly free from errors and mistakes.
• You provide value to the organization.

If you can't do these things you're not ready to lead.

How will you know if you've mastered the basics?

You:

• Feel confident when working on projects.
• Get positive feedback from manager, peers, and stakeholders..
• Have similar skills compared to peers, friends at other companies, or connections on the internet.

Once you feel like you've mastered your technical skillset, prove it.

Prove to others that you know your sh*t

Reputation is everything.

Ensure others know that you're competent but never do it directly. Do it through high quality work, effective communication, and clear writing.

Be so good they can't ignore you.

Once you've proven your competence, you're ready to lead.

Start leading

Your leadership will flow naturally from your skillset.

With confidence, you have nothing to prove.

Now you can:

• Delegate.
• Help others.
• Build processes and procedures.
• Step back and see the big picture.
• Take on additional responsibilities.

Now you can lead.