From Individual Contributor to Leader
What means being a leader in software engineering?
Being totally honest, even though I've held leadership roles for the past 10 years, I still sometimes feel a bit like an impostor. It's surprising—and even a little funny—to look back at how I've handled certain situations in the past.
Right now, for example, I'm remembering an incident from about a year ago when I totally failed at preventing my boss from seeing me as a threat or potential replacement. That sparked envy and insecurity from his side, pushing him to make my job way harder than necessary. Today, I'm sure that if I'd approached him in a humbler, less stubborn way, I would have achieved a much better outcome. But you know what? That experience taught me something valuable—as every situation always does.
Why Does Continuous Learning Matter?
Here's the bottom line: if you genuinely feel every decision you've ever made was perfect, you're probably doing something wrong. Think about it this way: if you're truly growing, your current knowledge and skills should be miles ahead of your past self. Every experience—whether it feels like success or failure—shapes you. As long as you're learning from each situation, you're winning.
One of the most important lessons I learned about 7 years ago was changing my mindset from an Individual Contributor to a Leader. This shift was essential for feeling true progress in my career. Even now, I still have so much to learn about this paradigm, and honestly, that's fantastic—I love that hunger for growth.
If you’re a Senior Software Engineer looking to advance your career, improving your leadership skills is crucial. So, let me share three fundamental aspects that can help you do exactly that:
Your New Goal: Aligning Goals
I used to be a highly competitive professional focused on delivering maximum value by shipping features—always pushing myself to be the absolute best. However, I’ve learned something important: becoming a true leader involves shifting your goal from personal performance towards aligning your team members' goals with the team's goals.
“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” – Ronald Reagan
What exactly does this mean? It means deeply understanding each of your teammates' individual goals, motivations, and expectations, and then finding ways to align these personal ambitions with your team’s overall objectives.
Here’s a quick example of what I mean: A team member once expressed frustration about always working with legacy banking systems rather than exploring new technologies. Recognizing his frustration, I proposed an idea to leverage our team's downtime (when blocked or workloads were lighter) into something valuable—I called it "InnoLab" (Innovation Laboratory). Each team would propose innovative ideas and test them as proof-of-concepts, validating real value for our business and customers. Fortunately, most leaders embraced the concept, creating opportunities for innovation and personal growth.
Make Yourself “Dispensable”
Learning this lesson was pretty tough for me. To really succeed as a leader, you need to trust your team. You have to empower each member so they can handle tasks—even when you're not around.
But how? Push your team members to take responsibility and let them shine. Treat people as superheroes, and that's exactly how they'll start to act.
“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader. A great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
It’s common knowledge among colleagues who've worked with me that I often encourage my team members to present our results directly to leaders or customers. Why? Because it empowers them, makes their efforts visible across the company, and provides valuable experience handling pressure—all of which helps them grow.
Another effective way is to let your team propose their own ideas and guide conversations towards solutions. Depending on the situation, I usually allow my team to express their perspectives and lead discussions. Only if I notice they need a bit of guidance to stay on track or get unstuck, I step in to gently steer the conversation.
Train Your Influence Skill
A lot of books, blogs, and videos talk about influencing people. I'd like to share two of my all-time favorite books on leadership and influence: How To Win Friends And Influence People and The Art Of War. I've learned—and honestly, I’m still learning—a lot from these classics.
Let me start by saying that I'm naturally altruistic and idealistic. By default, this shapes me into a helpful leader. I usually trust that people mean well and have good intentions, so I focus on supporting their personal goals while aligning them with the team's objectives.
However, sometimes decisions aren't optimal or context-appropriate, and you'll need to influence the outcome. The tricky part? Everyone usually believes they're right. Becoming influential combines several skills that reinforce one another: you listen to understand, identify motivations, map personalities, adapt your leadership style, and constantly practice.
Listen first. Truly listen and understand before responding. You might discover valuable insights and show your teammates their perspectives genuinely matter.
Identify motivations. Understanding what motivates your team lets you align your proposals with their priorities, increasing acceptance.
Understand personalities. Different personalities respond better to different communication styles. I recommend reading Surrounded By Idiots to adapt effectively.
Be a "chameleon". Sometimes leadership requires flexibility, even strategic toughness, to align goals and achieve objectives. As we say in Spanish: "Al son que me toquen bailo."
Practice. You’ll inevitably fail sometimes, but each failure is a lesson. Keep practicing your influence skills; mastery comes with experience.
Remember, leadership isn't about having all the answers; it's about guiding your team toward finding the best solutions together. Keep practicing, stay humble, and never stop learning. You've got this!