Can a middle developer be a team leader?

Question

Project management

Can, in your opinion, a middle developer be a team leader?
If so, can he have a lord under him? Or is it better in this case to make a senior team leader?
In general, what skill, in your opinion, is the most important for a team leader? General technical skills, knowledge of a specific project or the ability to manage a team?

Answer 1

Can, in your opinion, a middle developer be a team leader?

In my opinion, no.
Well, if the management in the office is crooked, then yes.
In this case, it is better to make a manager as a team leader.
A team leader is, first of all, a manager, a manager with knowledge of the internal kitchen of IT, so that the knowledge and skills are the same as for an ordinary manager.

Answer 2

The team leader is first of all a good manager, and not the strongest coder in the team, but of course he should at least be able to review and know the project. I don't believe a PM can be a development team lead.
It all depends on your processes and competency matrix. In our paradigm, a senior is the chief plowman on his own initiative. He is not very interested in managing a team, solving process problems, he is interested in solving a global / complex / architectural task, which with a high degree of probability no one else will do.
The lead, on the other hand, often barely touches the code. Either critical or minor edits + review. Gives expert assessments for tasks (by himself or with a team) and is responsible for the quality of getting into this assessment.
A good lead in a team is when the department works equally well with him and without him in case of his absence. When any problems from the purchase of hardware, conferences and promotions, to problems with the customer, the analyst and his technical requirements, deadlines, and so on, are resolved without further escalation.
In my experience, a rare senior in the team did not have a high-level heart rate and at least some more or less developed communication skills along with empathy and normal reflection, so my opinion is that only middle can be a good lead

Answer 3

Middles and juniors are unlikely to answer this question) You need to ask the team leaders.