What is a lead developer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted Experts

Frank McCown Ph.D.,

Kevin Treu Ph.D.

A lead developer is a senior software engineer responsible for managing developers and overseeing the technical aspects of a project. They design, implement, and maintain software applications that meet business requirements. A lead developer works with project managers, stakeholders, and team members to identify project goals, define timelines, allocate resources, and ensure timely delivery. They also mentor and train junior developers, review code, conduct quality assurance testing, troubleshoot issues, and stay up-to-date with emerging technologies.

What general advice would you give to a Lead Developer?

Frank McCown Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Harding University

The market is stable for software developers, despite the economic challenges created by the pandemic. Before accepting a job offer, talk to the company's employees through online meetings or email, and see what they think of the company. Do they enjoy their work? Are there opportunities to learn new technologies? How does the company treat their employees? There's a good chance you will be working remotely in your first job, so you will need to exercise a lot of self-discipline, be punctual for online meetings, do the work you've been assigned, and know when to ask questions when you get stuck. Expect a steeper-than-normal learning curve if you are working remotely instead of in an office.

ScoreLead DeveloperUS Average

Salary

8.0

Avg. Salary $116,340

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.0

Growth Rate 21%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 29.92%

Black or African American 4.45%

Hispanic or Latino 8.19%

Unknown 4.80%

White 52.46%

Gender

female 23.64%

male 76.36%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress Level

4.0

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.9

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.6

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being a Lead Developer?

Pros

Higher salary compared to junior or regular developers
Increased visibility and recognition within the organization
Ability to influence technical direction and decision-making
Opportunity for career advancement within the company
Ability to shape and implement coding standards and best practices

Cons

More pressure to deliver results on time and within budget
More time spent in meetings, reporting, and communicating with stakeholders
Greater risk of burnout due to longer hours and higher stress levels
Increased demand for problem-solving skills beyond technical issues
Higher expectations for communication skills, both written and verbal

Key steps to become a lead developer

Explore lead developer education requirements

Most common lead developer degrees

Bachelor's

68.0 %

Master's

20.9 %

Associate

6.0 %

Start to develop specific lead developer skills

Skills	Percentages
Java	10.14%
JavaScript	5.48%
Architecture	5.19%
C++	4.44%
Web Application	3.89%

Complete relevant lead developer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New lead developers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a lead developer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real lead developer resumes.

Research lead developer duties and responsibilities

Develop UNIX shell scripts to automate the process of running jobs/batches for scheduling and process the feeds.
Consult on the database schema, create business environments, write stored procedures in PL/SQL, authore reports and manage security.
Configure and manage JGroup multicasting communication for apache tomcat web servers.
Develop an UI tool for inbound and outbound file monitoring tool using HTML, CSS, JavaScript etc.

Get lead developer experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a lead developer. The most common roles before becoming a lead developer include developer, senior software engineer team lead and software engineer.

Prepare your lead developer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your lead developer resume.

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