Article #6

Team Member VS. Team Leader

A web development team consists of UI/UX designers, front-end developers, back-end developers, and QA engineers. In other words, a development team is a group of people that work together to build web applications.

Team leaders are responsible for guiding a group of team members to start the project from the beginning until the project is completed.

Team members are responsible for taking the orders from the team leader. Whenever team members encounter any problems. The team leader will then help them to find the solutions.

A team leader is responsible for 100% of each web project. And the team member is only responsible for a portion of each web project that the team leader assigns it to her or him. This could mean more pressure and work on being a team leader than on being a team member.

When you know you have the ability to handle team leadership responsibilities. Then you can go or not go to become the team leader because there is nothing wrong with staying on as a team member until your career ends.

As a team member, you should try your best to find out what the strengths and weaknesses of your team leader because by knowing them you know what & when not to do and say anything to upset and hurt your team leader is a way to survive in the team and in the company. For examples:

(1)	Keep telling your ideas and solutions to your team leader if he or she loves to hear them.
(2)	Don't say anything if your team leader does not want to hear it from you even you know that your ideas and solutions are much much much better than the ones from your team leader or your team mate(s).
(3)	Don't say anything even though you know that your team leader's or team mate's ideas and solutions will not work due to your team leader dislikes to hear from you.
(4)	Don't get your work done on time if your team leader does not want you to get your work done on time.

Working for such bad team leader will never give you a chance to express your abilities and grow your strengths. And the solution is no need to fight with your team leader. But just look for another job in other company when the right time comes to you.

As an employee in any industry:

(a)

Please do not join any side when two or more sides are fighting each other even though you know which side is a good side by evidences, facts and moral because if the side you join will be lost. Then the winning side will go after you. And the worst is that the winning side will find a chance to influence the boss to fire you.

(b)	Please do not show your full capacity and intelligence to any co-workers because some or all of them don’t feel comfortable for being with you after they find out that yours are better than theirs.

(c)	Please don’t tell your co-worker(s) all about yourself because tomorrow they might use them or it to fight against you for making their burning ambition to come true.

(d)	Today you and your co-worker(s) are deadly enemies, and then tomorrow you guys can be best friends just because you guys need to use each other to survive in the company. So, please take it easy from the first date you meet your co-workers until you or they leave the company!

(e)	For making your life easier, please don't maintain good relationships with your boss and any co-workers whose positions are much higher than yours.

My conclusion is that the more you learn from team leaders and co-workers in the past, the more competent you are to work with your next new team leader and new co-workers.