Tech Lead Journal

Henry Suryawirawan started Tech Lead Journal in 2020 with a straightforward thesis: being a great tech lead requires a lot more than writing great code. Over 260 weekly episodes, he has interviewed experienced technical leaders about the skills that do not show up in coding interviews — team building, stakeholder communication, architectural decision-making, managing technical debt, and navigating organizational politics. The guest list spans senior engineers, engineering managers, CTOs, and authors who have written books on technical leadership. Recent episodes have covered platform engineering and internal developer experience, how to manage AI adoption within engineering organizations, software reliability and durable execution patterns, and how cybersecurity fits into the tech lead's responsibilities. Suryawirawan's interview style is thorough — he clearly prepares extensively and knows how to pull practical, actionable advice from his guests. What makes Tech Lead Journal particularly useful is that it fills a gap most other software podcasts ignore. Plenty of shows cover new frameworks and tools, but few focus specifically on the transition from senior engineer to technical leader. The show addresses questions like how to run effective architecture reviews, how to balance hands-on coding with leadership responsibilities, and how to build a team culture that actually ships quality software. It carries a 4.7 star rating from 14 reviews on Apple Podcasts.