Crash Course: Technical Leadership
The Role of Tech Lead in 2026: Team, Architecture, Communication
Mentor: Pavlo Polyakov, Principal Engineer at Free2move
Mentor: Pavlo Polyakov, Principal Engineer at Free2move
Event is over
Crash Course: Technical Leadership
Event is over
Event is over
Event is over
The role of the Tech Lead is changing rapidly. If before the key value was expertise in the code, today and especially tomorrow most of the implementation will be performed by AI agents.
Why do I need this? Will AI soon replace us all?
Agents will indeed increasingly write code. But responsibility for the system as a whole remains with a person — the technical leader.
AI does not take over:
- architectural decisions and technical compromises
- assessment of risks and consequences of changes
- agreement of decisions with stakeholders
- prioritization and direction of development
- leadership and responsibility for the team
It is these human skills — decision-making, communication, systems thinking and leadership — that are the most valuable and yet>unavailable to AI and agents.
What this course provides
The course helps to systematically and practically develop these skills. In addition, he teaches how to use them in a way that works with AI tools more effectively, not competes with them:
- Understanding the role of Tech Lead in the world of AI and agents
- Approving and arguing for architectural decisions
- Managing technical risks instead of reactive firefighting
- Communicating effectively with stakeholders
- Building teamwork where AI is a tool
- Moving from the “senior who pulls everything” to the leader of the system
Mentor: Pavlo Polyakov, Principal Engineer at Free2move
Who has already completed the course
100+ developers have already completed the program. Among the graduates are Tech Leads, Principal and Senior developers from leading product and outsourcing companies Ukraine and the world.
- >>>>
- Intellias
- ELEKS
Who is this course for
- Senior Developers who are moving or planning to move into a Tech Lead role
- Current Tech Leads who want to structure the experience and reduce chaos
- Engineers who are already working with AI tools and understand that code is no longer the main thing
Format
- Duration
- 3 modules, ~10 hours
- Platform
- Zoom. We will send you a link to the broadcast the day before the course, and it will also be available on this page. In addition, all materials and recordings of the sessions will be available on the educational platform during the year.
- Language of the event and presentation
- Ukrainian
- The number of places is limited
- 30 members
Program
3.09, 18:00–21:00 Module 1. Being a leader
- What is technical leadership?
- How to prove yourself as a leader?
- 10 characteristics of a technical leader
- Practice. We are working to be noticed and recognized as a leader, we are considering promotion.
- Practice. Complete the Brag Document to discover what you already do in addition to your position and how it can be used for promotion.
- Practice. Let's set SMART goals to increase your visibility in the company.
- We are preparing the next steps for your new role.
5.09, 10:00–14:00 Module 2. Hard skills
-
Modern approaches to software development
- Practice. According to the brief, we will analyze the business and divide the system into domains according to DDD.
-
Architecture for developers
- Practice. We will consolidate the knowledge gained by developing and justifying the technical architecture for the company according to the brief.
-
Measurement of architecture. You can only improve what you can measure
- Practice. Definition of key indicators for an efficient and maintainable architecture.
7.09, 18:00–21:00 Module 3. Soft skills
- Influence. How can we as tech leaders influence others? Is it generally good or bad?
-
Communicating Tech. How to talk about complex technical things so that you are understood?
- Practice. Using the framework, you will create a simple and clearexplanation for a topic where you are an expert.
- Conflict resolution. How to behave in a conflict so that both parties are satisfied?
-
Productive meetings
- Practice. You will independently design a meeting that will effectively solve the problem and leave all its participants satisfied and heard.
Feedback from previous iteration: average score 9.5
It will be useful for those who have plans to become a Tech Lead/Principal/Staff Engineer. It will also be useful for those who are already in it to learn the material, as well as for a clear understanding of what engineering management is
When you think you know everything about leadership, architecture, presentations and meetings, you are definitely wrong. This course drew my attention to a deeper study of the above topics. The practical part is well chosen and allows you to fix the material better.
When you think you know everything about leadership, architecture, presentations and meetings, you are definitely wrong. This course drew my attention to a deeper study of the above topics. The practical part is well chosen and allows you to fix the material better.
This course is a significant boost on the way to becoming a leader. It concentrates useful information, which takes time to independently search and understand. Who do I think will benefit from this? First of all, this course will be useful for developers who are currently focused only on the needs of their own team and their own project, but want to move forward and spread their influence. Also, this course will be interesting for ambitious people who are confident in their leadership qualities, but do not yet have the necessary skills to take on the role of a leader.
Highly recommend!!! Different people have different experiences. Pavel presents his experience and his vision, which can be useful in your work to achieve results.
Highly recommend!!! Different people have different experiences. Pavel presents his experience and his vision, which can be useful in your work to achieve results.
Very good, structured and clear course. Pavlo explains everything very well and in detail, pays attention to all students and pays a lot of attention to answering questions. Practical tasks are very appropriate and help to learn the material better. Since this is a crash course, the material is presented in a condensed form, but there are many recommendations for books from Pavel where you can read in more detail.
Useful for middle developers, seniors, and tech leads - lots of structured information presented in a nice format
This course is worthy of attention both for developers who want to become a leader and for active leaders, to learn something new for themselves, some techniques. Also confirm your current experience
Useful for middle developers, seniors, and tech leads - lots of structured information presented in a nice format
This course is worthy of attention both for developers who want to become a leader and for active leaders, to learn something new for themselves, some techniques. Also confirm your current experience
Mentor: Pavlo Polyakov, Principal Engineer at Free2move
- 15+ years in the IT industry, of which almost 3 years Staff+
- 10+ years in product companies, had experience as an Engineering Manager, but chose the Staff+ track
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect
- Facilitator of the internal Technical Guidance Training for Senior+ specialists
- Author of the TG channel Pavlo Polyakov: technical leadership and more and articles on Medium and DOU
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