Becoming a tech lead was the goal from pretty early in my career. I had a clear picture of what the role was. More responsibility, more influence over the work, more of the interesting problems landing on my desk because someone had to figure them out and that someone, finally, would be me. It read like the natural next step. The thing you graduate to once you're good enough. What that picture didn't include was the part of the job that's about leading people. Not management. I knew management was a separate track. I mean the quieter stuff. Sitting with someone else's frustration and not fixing it for them. Holding a position you're 60% sure of in a room of people who want a confident answer. Realizing the thing blocking the team isn't a technical problem, and that nothing in your background really prepared you for the actual one. This is the post I wish someone had written for me when I was still aiming for the role. Not the ladder advice. The hard parts.…