Learnings from yet another Software Engineer
Software Engineering is an incredible skill when you actually enjoy it. It’s pretty easy to bump into a Software Engineer, even at a Grocery Store, when you’re living in Silicon Valley.
Yet another Software Engineer? Nah.
So, how does one stand out? Here’s what I learned over the last 3.5 years of working in Tech.
The school you went to was a stepping stone. It opens doors of opportunities. You still have to walk through the doors yourself.
Going to a better school, landing a different full time job or learning from popular internet courses, do not solely determine what your career will look like. This is why, no matter where you are in your career today, your actions, effort, determination and grit will always help find or create opportunities for yourself.
Upskill your soft skills
In a room full of people with similar technical skills, why will someone pick you? What makes you different? What makes you stand out? One of the easiest, yet overlooked things to do is develop strong soft skills. Communication, Collaboration, Documentation, Confidence, Oratorship and Storytelling are almost obvious but dope skills that instantly catch an eye in a meeting or room. When I think about the best Engineer I’ve worked with so far, along with their sharp technical skills, I also remember how they helped me, answered my questions without trivializing them, went out of their way to share what they learned and were great at listening. Confidence with Empathy and Humility in a workplace is rare and anyone demonstrating this, easily becomes someone that stands out.
Check in on your mindset
Adding Value Mindset
For a customer, your team, your organization or your mentor — always think about what value you can bring to the table. When we start looking for ways to add value in any relationship and project, we automatically tune our mind to find or create opportunities to stand out. All that’s left after identifying them, is action and delivering value.
Growth Mindset
“The more I know, the more I realize I know nothing.” — Socrates
This quote can be seen as a reminder to stay humble and to keep an open mind in order to continue growing and learning. The Tech Industry is growing big and fast and there’s no way one person can learn and know everything. That’s a great thing because now you can pick one thing you love and go deep into building expertise. Harboring a Growth mindset means that there’s always more to learn and accepting that you may not always know the best solution to something. Be open to feedback, listen to other people’s perspectives, pay close attention to their mistakes — and then, make your informed opinions. It’s okay to change your opinions and views with more information and that’s an incredible quality to have rather than being rigid and holding a fixed mindset.
Problem Solving Mindset
In teams where people have diverse opinions, oftentimes collaboration can feel difficult. It is easy to become defensive about your solutions or methods and fall into a rut. Always remember that your teammates also want to solve the same problem. It’s US versus the Problem and not You versus Me. When we focus on solving the problem, other annoyances about how someone delivered their opinion, any suggestions or feedback they presented at the wrong time, etc just become noise in the background. Taking a step back, and refocusing on the problem for yourself and the team, goes a long long way.
The Power of Automation
This seems obvious, but we engineers often tend to do repetitive work. Tasks and problems that are recurring need to be automated so the team can focus on things that are more impactful for your customers. Drive discussions and bring attention to work that can be automated, get the team’s investment or buy-in and deliver on them. And if you find automation boring — get the boring work out of the door first.
Document your way through every Project
Someone once told me, they don’t document anything because that way they become irreplaceable for their team and no one else understands the systems they built. I remember feeling confused if this was a genius move or plain stupid!
The benefits of documenting are not just for your peers and stakeholders to use, but for you to keep track of your work. Record all kinds of reasoning and options considered, document the research done before certain decisions were made and use these quality documents for performance reviews. This is an example where you can go the extra mile when most engineers only do the bare minimum. It also helps in becoming a better writer, communicator and brings clarity to solutions during design discussions.
Do you observe how none of the points above mention technical skills or depth? They are certainly important to excel in your role, but that is the bare minimum — in my opinion. And when did someone build fulfilling and glorious careers from meeting the bare minimum?
