Become a team leader
References: https://www.codementor.io/learn-programming/how-to-get-promoted-as-dev-team-leader
Become a team leader or earning that promotion you deserve doesn't happen overnight. It takes time to position yourself to your bosses that they have the perfect person to promote and no need to go out and recruit.
You don't just get promoted by doing your job well. You get promoted because of everything you do outside of your job. The more you - and your projects are known about in other parts of the company, the more likely your name is to remain on the promotions list. So get involved with cross company projects.
Show some leadership. Leadership takes many forms — it isn’t all about being the person who has been promoted above other people.
Be the best dev possible
Don't be comfortable with your current skillset. Always look to push yourself and expand your knowledge.
Show yourself as someone who is always looking to improve and you'll catch the attention of managers above you, as they are always looking for those with drive and determination to improve their business.
Take responsibility
A key factor in becoming a team leader is the ability to take responsibility for your team's work. You don't have to take responsibility for the whole team now, but making sure you have the ability to your aspect of a project out on time will show that you can be trusted to lead a team.
If something has gone wrong and you're at fault don't try to hide. Create clear solutions to the problems that arise which will show you as someone who can handle a crisis effectively.
Communication and management skill
Showing that you can effectively communicate with your bosses will also be a massive advantage. They need to see you as someone who can go to clients, and effectively communicate the wishes of them, as well as other bosses to make a project run swimmingly.
Be Approachable and Helpful
All good team leaders should be able to be approached by anyone they lead with questions and be able to be helpful to them. Start showing what you are made of by helping your current team out if they need any advice. By doing this you’ll present yourself as someone who the team turns too and will stand out when your boss is looking for new team leader.
Missteps
- Doing too much too soon. As a young and enthusiastic programmer, I was offered responsibilities before I was ready for them, and I jumped at the chance. This led to me working long hours, and seeing that some of the ideas I had implemented were actually less good in practice than they were in theory. I hadn’t built up the years of experience to know how to handle other people — or the experience to know what can go wrong in software development. Ultimately I burned out, unable to cope with the pressure.
- Staying in a comfortable job for too long. Sometimes you notice that your company just isn’t changing — there really aren’t the promotion opportunities that you might find elsewhere… but the job is just so comfortable that there is no incentive to move.
- Not spending enough time in a job: it would have probably helped me move up the ladder faster if I had remained another year or two.
- Not asking more about promotion: When I finally asked my manager about a move to management, he jumped at the chance of helping me. And the whole management team rallied round to assist. Presumably they knew I was ready for such a position before I did — but no-one ever said anything because they didn’t know it was the path I wanted to take.