15 Important Developer Career Tips
Alconost Translation
First let me explain how great careers look.
They do not look like a flat line where you climb a little higher each month.
')
Even “so-so” careers do not look that way. You do not move up the career ladder every month. You simply systematically strengthen your position, striding forward rarely, but in large jumps.
Exemplary careers are more like such a schedule. There are periods of slow growth and something like key points where a career “shoots”.
Different colors? These are changes of directions: from development to product management, from sales to founders of a startup, etc.
On the chart there are failures. And you know why? Because to be the best involves some risk. And if you take enough risks, you must stumble over something.
Considering the above, let me give you 15 tips on your career choices, coding, ambitions, and everything else.
# 1: Write the code. Lots of code. Schools are good at giving theory, but with practice there is not much. This is especially true for top universities. Professors are usually theorists, often hostile to more “practical” forms of study. The best way to become a great coder is to practice a lot. It is not so important what exactly you are writing (open source, iPhone applications, etc.) while you code and move towards the goal.
# 2: Be language independent. A programming language is just a tool. Of course, it is important to know him well, but it is equally valuable to constantly learn new things. The best developers try not to position themselves as a “developer by ____”.
# 3: Prestige to help. Big names in resumes open doors and show your potential. If you can get titles like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Dropbox in your resume - do it (but don't stay there for a long time - see # 4 ).
# 4: Do not stay long in large companies. Unless your goal is to build a career in a large organization (then you need to stay there by any means). In other cases, leave quickly. One or two years after studying at a company like Google - just right. 10 years? It is not very. You will also continue to learn, but the returns from staying in one place over time will be less and less (unless you want to be an “employee of a big company”).
# 5: If you are looking for an A + career , then move to the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA, San Francisco Bay Area). I love Seattle and started there, but I have to be honest with myself: there are many more opportunities for a techie on the bay. You limit yourself as an engineer (product manager or “business technician”) while living somewhere else.
# 6: If the A + career doesn’t interest - DO NOT move to the bay. It is incredibly expensive here. Seriously. It is worth it only in exchange for a lot of career prospects. For just an easy career, there are many more accessible cities with a sufficient level of technology (like Seattle). A good engineer can buy a nice house in Seattle, and it will be all the same coast.
# 7: If you don’t want to be a developer all your life, do not stay with them for long. Deep technical knowledge, of course, needed. But it doesn’t matter if you spent two years or seven years working out. A couple of years after college, think about whether you are ready to be an engineer for the next 10, 20, or even 30 years? If not ready, change direction. Sitting in the engineers for a long time will not help you much.
# 8: Finish quickly. Most of my friends who changed jobs have thought about this for the last 6-12 months. Some remained for another 2-3 years after they began to say that it was time to tie. They have lost so much time simply because of resistance to change. If you want to leave, do it now . Send a resume somewhere else, or even go “nowhere”. Most likely, you will not be particularly successful if you are dissatisfied with life, so delaying care will cost more.
# 9: Be honest. If you are trying to shalturit and cut corners, then it will come out sideways. In life, it is important to do the right thing. And to do so is not just right, but also clever. People will trust and sympathize with you more. More doors will open - and this may well be a turning point in your career.
# 10: Help others. If possible, help someone who asks for it. This is correct and clever - today you are asked to help, but then these same people will surely be more willing to help you. Help may be, for example, in meeting with their friends, who may already have an influence on something. If you doubt someone's usefulness - think about the fact that you know absolutely nothing about their friends and their future.
# 11: Make friends. In fact, you yourself are unlikely to succeed. If you are an entrepreneur, you will need employees and business contacts. If an employee - will need a job. In both cases, friends are the key to opportunity. Far or near, they are an important part of your personal network. And these are not the people whom you once met and did not speak again.
# 12: Understand, realize that we all have an impostor syndrome. Even the most successful entrepreneurs and engineers (with very few exceptions) are sure that they are just lucky, and they are not as good as it seems to everyone. And that one day they “expose”. Understanding how common the impostor syndrome is will help you realize that even if it seems that you are a deceiver, this is not necessarily the case.
# 13: Start something. Take the initiative. Good things happen to those who do not wait. Look for new opportunities. Launch your hackathon, club, project, company, working group - whatever. In the process, you will learn an incredible amount and see new perspectives.
# 14: Take the risk and do not miss the opportunity. If you accidentally notice a looming opportunity, grab it. Follow and see where it leads. Do not pass by just because you do not know what all this will translate into.
# 15: Get into the habit of saying yes. The best careers revolve around "breakthrough" moments. But the problem is that they are not so easy to recognize. You never know where this seemingly useless encounter for a cup of coffee will lead. And you still do not know that in a couple of months this person will introduce you to one guy who is looking for advice and can become your business partner. Get a steady habit of not giving up.
For all these tips, there are reasons behind which are often life stories. These are the things that my friends, customers, and I went through.
Many of my own projects (# 1) and a couple of friends (# 11) came to me during my internship at Microsoft after the first course.
Ultimately, this led to a post at Google, after which I was almost everywhere happy (# 3).
The initiative (# 13) and the use of opportunities (# 14), in contrast to careful planning and research, led me to launch two companies. Both of them became successful and gave invaluable experience.
In fact, both startups were launched as a result of my agreement (# 15) to help a friend (# 10).
Consulting on the acquisition of business (now this is the main part of my business) appeared because someone asked me for help. I was not sure that the moment was good, but I still said “yes” (# 15). And this tactic every time justified itself.
But there were mistakes.
I love Seattle, my homeland, but moving to the bay was very valuable for a career. There are more opportunities with better prospects, no doubt (# 5). But the costs are much higher (# 6), therefore it is better to find another place if such prospects are not interesting.
I also seem to have been sitting at Google for too long. And the extra years did not give me much (# 4). In the end, I left because I no longer wanted to remain a developer (# 7), and I just stopped being happy (# 8).
A couple of tips for me are obvious and work “on the machine”, but I saw what happens when other people do not follow them.
I have never associated myself with languages, and this added flexibility to me. Those who did not do so were significantly more limited in terms of career (# 2). The choice of potential employers decreases, and such programmers are often considered weaker.
As for honesty (# 9), two stories come to my mind. In both cases, someone's desire for success harmed him. In the first example, one of my colleagues tried to evade important commitments with a loophole in the law. In the end, he succeeded, but I would not want to work with him anymore. I will not even help him in anything that requires trust (that is, it is not difficult for me to fill out a questionnaire for him, but I will not introduce him to anyone).
In the second example, a certain author published several false reviews of my book, in a stupid and short-sighted attempt to get around me. He poured all imaginable lies and accusations upon me when I was outraged. Now, from time to time he asks to be brought together with my friends, or he offers to work on something jointly. I refuse. And this is not revenge - it's just protecting yourself and my friends.
If you followed the links to the tips, you noticed that one is not enough - the impostor syndrome (# 12) .
I know about this term for a long time, but only in the last couple of years I understand that almost every successful person feels an impostor. This was a revelation to me that opened my eyes to the fact that self-doubt in my own strength does not mean the absence of these forces. As a result, I became more self-confident, and now I’m more likely to launch a project (# 13), get carried away with the opportunity (# 14), or just say “yes” (# 15).
And which of these tips are confirmed by your experience?
Illustrations - stills from the movie “Always say yes”
About the translator
The article is translated in Alconost.
Alconost is engaged in the localization of applications, games and websites in 60 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any formats of string resources.
We also make advertising and training videos - for websites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.
Read more: https://alconost.com
First let me explain how great careers look.
They do not look like a flat line where you climb a little higher each month.
')
Even “so-so” careers do not look that way. You do not move up the career ladder every month. You simply systematically strengthen your position, striding forward rarely, but in large jumps.
Exemplary careers are more like such a schedule. There are periods of slow growth and something like key points where a career “shoots”.
Different colors? These are changes of directions: from development to product management, from sales to founders of a startup, etc.
On the chart there are failures. And you know why? Because to be the best involves some risk. And if you take enough risks, you must stumble over something.
Considering the above, let me give you 15 tips on your career choices, coding, ambitions, and everything else.
Coding:
# 1: Write the code. Lots of code. Schools are good at giving theory, but with practice there is not much. This is especially true for top universities. Professors are usually theorists, often hostile to more “practical” forms of study. The best way to become a great coder is to practice a lot. It is not so important what exactly you are writing (open source, iPhone applications, etc.) while you code and move towards the goal.
# 2: Be language independent. A programming language is just a tool. Of course, it is important to know him well, but it is equally valuable to constantly learn new things. The best developers try not to position themselves as a “developer by ____”.
Career choice:
# 3: Prestige to help. Big names in resumes open doors and show your potential. If you can get titles like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Dropbox in your resume - do it (but don't stay there for a long time - see # 4 ).
# 4: Do not stay long in large companies. Unless your goal is to build a career in a large organization (then you need to stay there by any means). In other cases, leave quickly. One or two years after studying at a company like Google - just right. 10 years? It is not very. You will also continue to learn, but the returns from staying in one place over time will be less and less (unless you want to be an “employee of a big company”).
# 5: If you are looking for an A + career , then move to the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA, San Francisco Bay Area). I love Seattle and started there, but I have to be honest with myself: there are many more opportunities for a techie on the bay. You limit yourself as an engineer (product manager or “business technician”) while living somewhere else.
# 6: If the A + career doesn’t interest - DO NOT move to the bay. It is incredibly expensive here. Seriously. It is worth it only in exchange for a lot of career prospects. For just an easy career, there are many more accessible cities with a sufficient level of technology (like Seattle). A good engineer can buy a nice house in Seattle, and it will be all the same coast.
# 7: If you don’t want to be a developer all your life, do not stay with them for long. Deep technical knowledge, of course, needed. But it doesn’t matter if you spent two years or seven years working out. A couple of years after college, think about whether you are ready to be an engineer for the next 10, 20, or even 30 years? If not ready, change direction. Sitting in the engineers for a long time will not help you much.
# 8: Finish quickly. Most of my friends who changed jobs have thought about this for the last 6-12 months. Some remained for another 2-3 years after they began to say that it was time to tie. They have lost so much time simply because of resistance to change. If you want to leave, do it now . Send a resume somewhere else, or even go “nowhere”. Most likely, you will not be particularly successful if you are dissatisfied with life, so delaying care will cost more.
Understand the rest:
# 9: Be honest. If you are trying to shalturit and cut corners, then it will come out sideways. In life, it is important to do the right thing. And to do so is not just right, but also clever. People will trust and sympathize with you more. More doors will open - and this may well be a turning point in your career.
# 10: Help others. If possible, help someone who asks for it. This is correct and clever - today you are asked to help, but then these same people will surely be more willing to help you. Help may be, for example, in meeting with their friends, who may already have an influence on something. If you doubt someone's usefulness - think about the fact that you know absolutely nothing about their friends and their future.
# 11: Make friends. In fact, you yourself are unlikely to succeed. If you are an entrepreneur, you will need employees and business contacts. If an employee - will need a job. In both cases, friends are the key to opportunity. Far or near, they are an important part of your personal network. And these are not the people whom you once met and did not speak again.
Be cool:
# 12: Understand, realize that we all have an impostor syndrome. Even the most successful entrepreneurs and engineers (with very few exceptions) are sure that they are just lucky, and they are not as good as it seems to everyone. And that one day they “expose”. Understanding how common the impostor syndrome is will help you realize that even if it seems that you are a deceiver, this is not necessarily the case.
# 13: Start something. Take the initiative. Good things happen to those who do not wait. Look for new opportunities. Launch your hackathon, club, project, company, working group - whatever. In the process, you will learn an incredible amount and see new perspectives.
# 14: Take the risk and do not miss the opportunity. If you accidentally notice a looming opportunity, grab it. Follow and see where it leads. Do not pass by just because you do not know what all this will translate into.
# 15: Get into the habit of saying yes. The best careers revolve around "breakthrough" moments. But the problem is that they are not so easy to recognize. You never know where this seemingly useless encounter for a cup of coffee will lead. And you still do not know that in a couple of months this person will introduce you to one guy who is looking for advice and can become your business partner. Get a steady habit of not giving up.
For all these tips, there are reasons behind which are often life stories. These are the things that my friends, customers, and I went through.
Many of my own projects (# 1) and a couple of friends (# 11) came to me during my internship at Microsoft after the first course.
Ultimately, this led to a post at Google, after which I was almost everywhere happy (# 3).
The initiative (# 13) and the use of opportunities (# 14), in contrast to careful planning and research, led me to launch two companies. Both of them became successful and gave invaluable experience.
In fact, both startups were launched as a result of my agreement (# 15) to help a friend (# 10).
Consulting on the acquisition of business (now this is the main part of my business) appeared because someone asked me for help. I was not sure that the moment was good, but I still said “yes” (# 15). And this tactic every time justified itself.
But there were mistakes.
I love Seattle, my homeland, but moving to the bay was very valuable for a career. There are more opportunities with better prospects, no doubt (# 5). But the costs are much higher (# 6), therefore it is better to find another place if such prospects are not interesting.
I also seem to have been sitting at Google for too long. And the extra years did not give me much (# 4). In the end, I left because I no longer wanted to remain a developer (# 7), and I just stopped being happy (# 8).
A couple of tips for me are obvious and work “on the machine”, but I saw what happens when other people do not follow them.
I have never associated myself with languages, and this added flexibility to me. Those who did not do so were significantly more limited in terms of career (# 2). The choice of potential employers decreases, and such programmers are often considered weaker.
As for honesty (# 9), two stories come to my mind. In both cases, someone's desire for success harmed him. In the first example, one of my colleagues tried to evade important commitments with a loophole in the law. In the end, he succeeded, but I would not want to work with him anymore. I will not even help him in anything that requires trust (that is, it is not difficult for me to fill out a questionnaire for him, but I will not introduce him to anyone).
In the second example, a certain author published several false reviews of my book, in a stupid and short-sighted attempt to get around me. He poured all imaginable lies and accusations upon me when I was outraged. Now, from time to time he asks to be brought together with my friends, or he offers to work on something jointly. I refuse. And this is not revenge - it's just protecting yourself and my friends.
If you followed the links to the tips, you noticed that one is not enough - the impostor syndrome (# 12) .
I know about this term for a long time, but only in the last couple of years I understand that almost every successful person feels an impostor. This was a revelation to me that opened my eyes to the fact that self-doubt in my own strength does not mean the absence of these forces. As a result, I became more self-confident, and now I’m more likely to launch a project (# 13), get carried away with the opportunity (# 14), or just say “yes” (# 15).
And which of these tips are confirmed by your experience?
Illustrations - stills from the movie “Always say yes”
About the translator
The article is translated in Alconost.
Alconost is engaged in the localization of applications, games and websites in 60 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any formats of string resources.
We also make advertising and training videos - for websites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.
Read more: https://alconost.com
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/264839/
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