Tech lead training is a practical program for senior engineers who lead a squad or pod, often without formal people management. It covers setting technical direction, breaking down and briefing work, design reviews, code-quality habits, mentoring, handling disagreement, representing the team to product and using AI coding assistants responsibly. Bodhih customises it with the ADDIE model.
- Recommended: 2 days in person, or 5 × 3-hour live virtual sessions, plus a 60-day follow-up
- Level: Intermediate · In person · Live virtual · Blended
- Designed with the ADDIE model and customised to your context
- Offered by Bodhih since 2008 to 2,000+ organisations across 7 regions
Also known as: technical leadership training, tech lead program, training for technical leads, senior engineer leadership training
Where and how: tech lead training as an in-person workshop in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Jaipur; as a live online course; or delivered overseas in Dubai, Singapore and across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Last reviewed by Siddharthan VGJ, Founder · Bodhih Training, Bengaluru
Why engineering teams need tech leads who can lead
Most tech leads are promoted for writing excellent code, then asked to do something different overnight: hold the architecture together, unblock five people and explain trade-offs to a product manager who wants it by Friday. Without help, many default to coding the hard parts themselves and reviewing everything at midnight.
AI coding assistants raise the stakes. Juniors ship more code faster, so the lead's judgement on design, review depth and quality habits decides whether the codebase improves or quietly rots. Tech lead training gives that judgement a structure the whole pod can see.
India accounts for 23% of the world's software engineering talent.
LinkedIn names cross-functional collaboration, team management and mentorship among the fastest-growing skills of 2026.
What participants will be able to do
Set a technical direction
Write a one-page technical direction for the next quarter that the pod can repeat back and use to settle small decisions without you.
Brief work people can own
Slice an epic into tasks with a clear outcome, constraints, done criteria and the decisions the engineer may take alone.
Run design reviews that decide
Facilitate a 45-minute design review that compares options, records the decision and its reasons, and names who acts next.
Mentor without taking over
Grow juniors through pairing, questions and graded stretch tasks instead of rewriting their pull requests.
Hold the line on scope
Say no or not yet to product requests with a reasoned trade-off, and offer an alternative the business can accept.
Lead AI-assisted coding
Agree team habits for AI coding assistants: where they help, what still needs human review and how generated code is tested.
Who should attend
- Senior engineers who lead a squad, pod or feature team without direct reports
- Newly named tech leads in GCCs, SaaS product companies and IT services delivery teams
- Lead developers and module owners preparing for an engineering manager role
- Staff engineers who guide several teams on architecture and standards
- QA, data and DevOps leads who run small technical teams
- Engineering managers who want a shared playbook for their tech leads
Program outline
Recommended design, customised to your context after a short needs analysis.
01The tech lead role, minus the mythsModule 1 · 90 min+
- What a tech lead owns versus the engineering manager and product owner
- Mapping your week: code, reviews, unblocking, meetings, thinking time
- How much to keep coding, and which work to stop picking up
02Direction, decomposition and briefingModule 2 · 2.5 hours+
- Writing a short technical direction note for the quarter
- Slicing an epic into thin, testable tasks with clear done criteria
- Briefing a task so a mid-level engineer can own it end to end
- Lightweight decision records that newcomers can actually find
03Design reviews and code-quality habitsModule 3 · 2.5 hours+
- Running a design review that compares options and ends in a decision
- Review depth: what to check closely, what to trust, what to automate
- Keeping technical debt visible on the backlog, not in hallway complaints
04Mentoring and growing engineersModule 4 · 2 hours+
- Pairing and question-led mentoring in place of rewriting code
- Graded stretch tasks for juniors and quiet senior engineers
- Feedback on code and on behaviour, kept separate and specific
05Scope, product partners and disagreementModule 5 · 2.5 hours+
- Saying no or not yet to scope creep with a trade-off on the table
- Representing the team in planning with product and business leads
- Settling a disagreement between two strong engineers without picking a favourite
06Leading a team that codes with AIModule 6 · 90 min+
- Where AI coding assistants speed the pod up and where they add risk
- Team habits for reviewing, testing and owning generated code
- A 60-day plan for your pod with one measurable change
Sample training plan: 2-day hands-on design
This two-day design treats the tech lead role as a craft that can be practised. Day one covers direction and work design: participants map their real week, write a technical direction note, slice a live epic into briefs and run a design review against the clock. Day two is about people: mentoring a junior without taking the keyboard, settling a dispute between two strong engineers, pushing back on a product request and agreeing team habits for AI coding assistants. Each lead leaves with a 60-day pod plan.
Participants can set a technical direction, brief work that others can own and run a design review that ends in a recorded decision.
- 09:30–10:00Merge conflictEnergiser
- 10:00–11:00Where my week goesDiagnostic
- 11:15–12:15The one-page direction noteBuild sprint
- 12:15–13:15Slice and brief the epicSkill drill
- 14:00–15:15Forty-five minutes to decideSimulation
- 15:30–16:30How deep to reviewCase clinic
- 16:30–17:30Debt on the boardGroup challenge
Participants can grow engineers, handle disagreement and scope pressure, and agree how their pod uses AI coding assistants.
- 09:30–10:00Hands off the keyboardEnergiser
- 10:00–11:00Mentoring the juniorRole-play
- 11:15–12:15Two strong engineers, one designFishbowl
- 12:15–13:00Not this sprintReal-play
- 13:45–14:45Our AI coding habitsGroup challenge
- 14:45–15:30Representing the pod upstairsSkill drill
- 15:45–16:45Peer review of the direction noteFeedback round
- 16:45–17:30My 60-day pod planAction planning
Every session’s activity, timings, outputs and materials, plus pre-work, a 90-day reinforcement plan and how impact is measured. Free, emailed to you instantly.
Recommended: 2 days in person (09:30–17:30 each day), or 5 × 3-hour live virtual sessions, plus a 60-day follow-up with peer review circles and engineering manager check-ins. A sample design: every Bodhih program is customised after a short needs analysis.
How long is tech lead training?
The recommended design is two full days in person or five live virtual sessions of three hours each, followed by a 60-day period with peer review circles and engineering manager check-ins at 30, 60 and 90 days.
What activities are included in tech lead training?
Leads write a technical direction note, slice a real epic into briefs, run a timed design review, mentor a junior through questions, settle a design dispute in a fishbowl, push back on a live scope request and agree AI coding habits for their pod.
How we deliver it
Your backlog is the case study
Participants bring a real epic, design question and team friction, so every brief, review and plan they write is usable on Monday.
Engineering-style practice
Timed design-review simulations, briefing drills and pairing role-plays mirror the rhythm of a sprint rather than a classroom.
Peer review from other leads
Tech leads from different teams critique each other's direction notes and decision records, the way they would a pull request.
Engineering manager briefing
Each lead's engineering manager gets a short guide so they can back new habits in one-on-ones and planning.
Tailored versions
For GCC engineering centres
Adds working with onsite architects and product owners across time zones, and leading pods that own a slice of a global platform.
For IT services delivery pods
Focuses on client-facing estimates, change requests, mixed-experience teams and keeping quality up when a release date is fixed.
Tech lead cohort over 10 weeks
Five live virtual sessions, each followed by a small assignment on the lead's own pod and a peer review circle.
How we measure impact
Impact is tracked through the Evaluate stage of ADDIE. Before the program, leads take an AssessAll pre-assessment, using the Engineering Manager Judgment Assessment for Tech Leads and New Engineering Managers and the Task Briefing and Delegation Clarity Assessment for Managers and Team Leads. A post-assessment follows at day 90. A 30-60-90 day follow-up with each lead's engineering manager reviews task briefs, design decisions recorded and review turnaround on the pod's own work.
Pair this program with AssessAll, Bodhih’s AI assessment platform, for pre- and post-program skill measurement.
Frequently asked questions
What is tech lead training?
Tech lead training is a program for senior engineers who guide a squad or pod. It builds the leadership side of the role: setting technical direction, briefing work, running design reviews, mentoring, handling disagreement and representing the team to product. It is practical and engineering-specific rather than a general management course.
How is a tech lead different from an engineering manager?
A tech lead usually owns technical direction, design quality and day-to-day delivery for a pod, while an engineering manager owns hiring, appraisals and careers. The roles overlap in mentoring and planning. Our program focuses on the tech lead's influence-based work; Bodhih also runs a separate engineering manager program for people managers.
How much should a tech lead still code?
Enough to stay credible and close to the system, but not on the critical path of every release. Many tech leads keep 30 to 50% of their time for hands-on work and avoid owning the riskiest task alone. The program helps each lead map their week and decide what to hand over.
How do tech leads handle disagreement between senior engineers?
Move the argument from people to options. Ask each engineer to write their approach with trade-offs, agree the criteria that matter, then decide and record why. If time is short, the lead makes the call and invites a review later. Participants rehearse this with a real design dispute.
Does the program cover AI coding assistants?
Yes. A dedicated module helps tech leads agree how their pod uses AI coding assistants: which tasks they suit, how generated code is reviewed and tested, and how juniors still learn the fundamentals. The aim is faster delivery without a codebase nobody fully understands.
How long is the tech lead training program?
The recommended design is two days in person or five three-hour live virtual sessions, followed by a 60-day application period. We can run a one-day version for experienced leads or a 10-week cohort with assignments. The final design is customised after a short needs analysis with engineering leadership.
Is tech lead training available in Bangalore and online?
Yes. Bodhih is based in Bengaluru and runs tech lead training at client offices in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Delhi NCR. Master trainers also travel to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and the live virtual version suits pods spread across cities and time zones.
Who should attend tech lead training?
Senior engineers and lead developers who already guide a pod, or will within six months, gain the most. Staff engineers, QA and data leads also benefit. Engineering managers often attend a short briefing so they can coach their tech leads using the same tools and language.