# Space for Growth ## The What The biggest mindset change from an Individual Contributor role to a Leader role — How to grow your team. ## The How You should put growth into 2 dimensions, vertical growth is awesome, however, horizontal growth is critical for team happiness and retention. ### Domains * Front end & BFF: web framework, user experience, browser support, JS/TS, etc * Backend: database, microservice, architecture, cache, search, etc * Data: data engineering, data wrangling, data science, data analysing, A/B testing, etc * DevOps: security, CI/CD, network, etc * Practice: dev experience, best practice, code quality, code review, delivery process, etc * …there are more… ### Horizontal growth * Learn from others within / outside your domain * Better collaboration among domains make a smooth delivery pipeline * Knowledge sharing help build up a good team culture and avoid the single point of failure * Informal mentorship is very helpful ### Vertical growth * Be clear about Engineering Levels: Associate, Mid-level, Senior, Staff, Senior Staff, etc * Delegated chat about career development * Always help your team grow ## :white\_check\_mark:Exceptions ## :red\_circle:Red Flags * Separate the team into support & Innovation // It always falls over * A player leaves if there is no space to grow ## :scroll:Tips * Be inclusive. We are one team. * Semi durable squads & swap // trade short-term productivity to long-term growth ## 🕳 Pitfalls * You as a Tech Lead is always on the critical path * You as a Tech Lead is always on the critical path --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://jamiewen00.gitbook.io/tech-lead-handbook/people/space-for-growth.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.