Success Stories

From Maker to Multiplier: What Makes a Great Tech Lead — And How to Grow Into the Role

*Author: Mihail Valkov – Software Product Manager and Engineering Leader, Lead Trainer in the Upskill Tech Leadership program of Telerik Academy

When I was General Manager at OfficeRnD, I had the privilege of working with remarkable engineering team leads. Some were seasoned leaders, others were just stepping into their first Tech Lead role.

And while each person brought unique strengths, the transition from individual contributor to tech leader had one thing in common:

It wasn’t just about what you knew — it was about how you started thinking differently. And no matter how many leadership books you’ve read or how many courses you’ve taken — and we had a long list of those — nothing quite prepares you like going through that mindset shift yourself. You have to feel the uncomfortable gap between the way you used to work and the way you need to work now.

Let me walk you through the main challenges I’ve seen — and lived — during this transition.

The shift that defines your leadership journey

The first shock is realizing your definition of “real work” has to change. As a developer, your days were full of commits, bug fixes, and features shipped. Your impact was visible and immediate.

Now, your value comes from empowering others to deliver better — faster velocity, higher quality, stronger morale. It’s no longer about what you alone produce, but about how much more the team can deliver because you’ve created the right environment. This is how you stop being just a contributor and start becoming a multiplier.

Managing the “dopamine gap”

That shift comes with a hidden cost. You lose the instant gratification of writing and shipping code. The dopamine rush is gone.

Instead, you learn to find satisfaction in subtler wins — refining processes so work flows more smoothly, spotting a metric that signals healthy team velocity, partnering with PMs to make sure goals are clear, helping a teammate grow in confidence, or securing budget for a team offsite that builds trust and sparks ideas.

At first, these victories feel slower. But over time, they compound. And that’s when you realize: this is impact at scale.

From “What I built” to “What we built” — and how I made it possible

Once you’ve adjusted to the slower feedback loop, the next challenge is redefining success entirely.

Andy Grove said it best:
„A manager’s output = the output of their organization + the output of the organizations they influence.“

It’s no longer about the features you coded. It’s about what the team built together — and how you made it possible. Sustaining that output means ensuring people can collaborate effectively, thrive in their environment, and work without unnecessary obstacles. Removing those obstacles becomes your new craft.

From "friendly colleague" to "growth catalyst" 

And here’s where the emotional side of leadership kicks in. When you were a peer, your main responsibility to others was being a good teammate. Now, you’re responsible for their growth. That means guiding them to get a little better every day, celebrating progress, and sometimes delivering hard feedback. This isn’t about authority — it’s about stewardship. You’re not just working with them; you’re working for their success.

From task execution to real value delivery

Once you start thinking about your team’s growth, another shift follows naturally: you stop accepting tasks at face value. You begin to ask the bigger questions. Why are we building this? How will it help our customers? What’s the business impact?

This mindset change transforms you from a task manager into a value creator. You make sure your team’s energy is spent where it matters most. And if there are too many meetings — or they’re ineffective — that’s your leadership opportunity to fix it.

From “cost center” to “value driver”

When you connect all these shifts — empowering others, managing the dopamine gap, enabling collaboration, focusing on value, and optimizing the team’s environment — something powerful happens. Your team stops being seen as just a cost center that “burns budget” and starts being recognized as a force multiplier for the business.
You begin asking: where else can we make an impact beyond our roadmap? What other problems in the organization could benefit from your skills? That’s when you truly step into leadership.

Thinking ahead — your next steps as a leader

Becoming a Tech Lead is not the finish line — it’s the first checkpoint. From here, your influence can grow far beyond your immediate team. The question is: how will you prepare for that next step?

That’s exactly what we will explore in our Upskill Tech Leadership program. We will go deep into the mindset changes, the practical frameworks, and the real-world strategies that help you lead with confidence, empathy, and clarity.

Whether you’ve just stepped into the role or you’re preparing for it, this course is built to help you lead beyond code.

Ready to start your journey from maker to multiplier? Check out the enrollment details, start thinking about the leader you want to become and apply. 

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