Introduction
There is a huge difference between working in a large team that has already been established by an organization, company, or club, and being part of a small team. No matter the size of the team, however, it always requires nurture and attention. The only difference is that when working with a large team that already has been established from someone else, it’s far easier when an incentive is given. Perhaps it’s a letter grade for a class, a good addition to your resume, or more. A small team, on the other hand, is a risk with no reward. Of course, this post may vary person by person.
Established Large Teams
During my time at UC Santa Cruz, I used to be part of large teams such as for Tech4Good, and it was easier to manage teams because there were more people to ask for help, and the director, David Lee, was an incredible person to reach out to.
When I started at Tech4Good, I will admit that I was not the best leader whatsoever. I failed at many things such as organizing, communicating, and leading. I was shadowing a great developer at the time, leaving him to do all the dirty work, while I just walked around helping people with any development work. After he graduated, I was pushed to lead. Every quarter I failed at something, but I started to become more confident in what I do. Communication is one thing I have always failed at, but I continued to try improving. Even at the last quarter of my school years, I failed to communicate at the beginning of the quarter, and that led to a lot of confusion with other members and leads. My fault, but they are lessons that I have learned.
Independent Teams
Managing an independent team is probably the most difficult challenge that I have faced. There are a few factors to why I have always failed in this aspect:
- Communication
- Motivation by oneself and others
- Scheduling Weekly Meetings
- Setting up a Roadmap
- and more…
The first time that I tried to make my own team, it was for an idea that I made up during a CruzHacks 2023. It felt as if this idea was necessary for schools and students, but when I tried to make a team, I failed in leading them. The only thing that I am good at is developing, not really being a product manager. Ironically, the idea was to help students form teams to build an app together. Funny how that didn’t work out.
The next idea came from a friend, but due to many reasons such as 3 of us were looking for a full-time SWE job after graduating, school starting for 3 others, we just never got to working. There was a small part of me that wanted to try and work on it, but given how tired I am when I get home and the mental disorders I am currently facing, I gave up.
Hackathon Teams
The last form of team would be a hackathon team, or any teams that are on a crucial deadline. These sort of teams can either flop or not, but for the most part, I have founded that these are the best kinds of teams. I have found myself to be in many successful teams in the past, and even managed to win 2nd place for one of the projects.
The best thing is that these competitions can bring up a new friendship. They are also quite adventurous if it’s hosted by a school far away from home. I wouldn’t really advise to join an online hackathon, though. It just doesn’t really hit the same as being at the campus of another school seeing other people compete against each other.
What’s Coming Up
Given that my current job has a lot of projects, I was able to meet a few people who were interested in web development that were part of the Art Department. I am a one-man team when it comes to web development, but my boss does come in here and there to guide me with the more complicated concepts such as cybersecurity and tech news in WordPress.
So now that I found these interested designers, I have decided to go forward with this. I have so many ideas in generating money to the company that I work for, but the first main thing to be good at is communication and leading. We might not be a large team, but we are all experienced one way or another. I’m definitely looking forward to this opportunity, but I truly need to try my best this time to continue growing as a developer and leader.
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