Seeking Guidance on Navigating Uncertainty with Tech Lead
I am an E4 Machine Learning Engineer working with a (traditional) Software Engineering Tech Lead who lacks a strong understanding of Machine Learning. This gap makes it challenging for him to communicate clearly the needed technical requirements, set a clear direction for my projects, and maintain consistent priorities, which often shift unexpectedly.
As a result, I frequently feel unclear about my deliverables for this half-year and worry that this lack of clarity might negatively impact my performance review.
Do you have any advice or suggestions on how I can navigate this situation?
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Discussion
(6 comments)- 1
3 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroAs an E4, you are expected to be able to disambiguate tasks as I talk about here: https://www.jointaro.com/course/grow-from-junior-to-mid-level-engineer-l3-to-l4/disambiguation/
It's not great that your TL is non-technical on the ML side, but not every team at Meta will have the perfect collection of talent, especially now. My tactical recommendation is to find an E5/E6 MLE on your team and see if they can help with clarifying your project requirements.
You should talk to your manager about this as well. Managers are expected to make sure that their reports work cohesively. Hopefully they can find that E5/E6 MLE for you.
- 13 months agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
Two main ways to mitigate this risk (I recommend some combination of both):
- Your work shouldn't be defined or dictated by a single person. Find other people t bounce ideas off, get code reviews, and pressure test ideas.
- Work on other projects with other people.
- 13 months agoMid-Level Software Engineer [E4] [OP]Meta
@Alex: I joined Meta a few months ago, and my TL has been with the company for over four years, though he only joined our team about six months before I did.
Yes, my current team size is ~20 and I know the situation with my manager isn’t ideal. I’ve thought about requesting a move to the sister team. But I’m concerned that it might impact my relationships with the current team, especially with the TL.
- 13 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
Oof, 20 direct reports? This looks more like a problem with the team, not the TL. I would bring this up with your manager for sure; it's also their job to "massage" awkward situations like these so that if you were to leave, you and your TL would still get along. It's not like you're going very far away if you were to go to a sister team, and you and your TL could still collaborate.
If you don't want to bring this up though, you can try establishing a support line outside of your TL and effectively non-existent manager. Talk to MLEs on your sister team and see if any E5/E6 MLEs are cool with mentoring you via a weekly or bi-weekly 1 on 1. Follow the advice from my question asking course about how to ask for favors here: https://www.jointaro.com/course/ask-great-questions-that-get-great-answers-quickly/put-them-on-a-pedestal/
This is useful as well: [Masterclass] How To Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech
In general, the best asset you can have amidst org thrash is social capital and likeability.
- 03 months agoMid-Level Software Engineer [E4] [OP]Meta
Thanks, Alex and Rahul, for the input—much appreciated. In my last post, I didn't fully articulate the situation. Building on the discussion, I agree that it is my responsibility to "disambiguate" the task both technically and conceptually. However, I would appreciate your thoughts on whether these are signs of a bad tech lead and how I might best navigate this situation. Note that I need to work closely with the tech lead on a regular basis, and I only have 1:1 meetings with my manager once or twice a month.
- He joined the team just half a year before I did.
- He seems to struggle to drive impacts, and his ideas don’t seem to gain traction with other metamates in meetings.
- He can't clearly articulate the overall "north star" or high-level end goals of the projects he wants me to work on, except for generic statements like "increase metric X by Y%."
- Somehows I am the only "official" MLE on my team, while the other MLEs are part of a sister team. My tech lead seems to be "at odds" with the other MLEs, and I'm not sure if there is any history of "scope fighting.
- 13 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
Thanks for sharing this, it is really helpful. This seems like a really bad situation:
- A weekly manager 1 on 1 is table-stakes. Going as low as once a month, especially for an E4, is really bad. Is this happening because your EM has like 15+ reports or something?
- It doesn't make sense for you to be the only MLE on the team, especially as an E4
About your tech lead, I recommend having some empathy for him as he's probably in a bad situation as well:
- I don't know when you joined Meta, but I assume you're not some 4+ year Meta veteran which means the TL isn't either
- It is not the TL's job to articulate a north star for projects as that's more for the PM/EM. Knowing that we need to increase metric X by Y% is honestly not bad
That being said, this depends on their level. If they're E6, then yeah, I would expect them to have strong product sense, especially if they're the product-hybrid archetype. This is even more true if they're E7. But if they're E5, then they're clearly in over their head.
Can you switch to the sister team or something? I think you should talk to your manager/skip about these issues.
