When I first joined my project, I was very happy in my position. We always had some subcontractors that would lead the development team. I was able to go off and solve technical problems. The "lead" would normally be stuck attending meetings, compiling status reports, doing project scheduling, etc.Then came that horrible day when we stopped paying our subcontractors. At first they thought it was a glitch. But then it appeared to be a change in direction for our company. No more paying subcontractors to do work that company employees can do. That's when I got drafted to be team lead of development. What a crock. This resulted in me meeting with an irate customer every day explaining why there were many problems with our software. Then I had to start compiling metrics reports. And I had to do a whole lot of other managerial tasks which I hated.
Luckily with such responsibilities comes a little bit of power. I was tasked with hiring new members for the development team. So I searched high and low and hired my replacement! The new hire became team lead. And I went back to being senior developer. Ahhh this was the good life. But like real life, all good things come to an end. Recently this team lead left the company. And once again I found myself drafted into becoming the team lead. Now I found myself skipping lunch to prepare for tedious status meetings.
So you can imagine my lack of enthusiasm when one of our system administrators called to congratulate me on my promotion. The problem is that there was no corresponding promotion in pay. And even if there was, I would not want it. Leading a team is a thankless job which prevent hands-on guys like me from doing what we do best. That is, software development.
