Be a Leader to Excel as a Software Developer

Move beyond completing tasks assigned to you. Seek out opportunities to make an impact.

Welcome to Developing Skills - Skills for Developers looking to develop their careers.

This week we have:

• Tip of the week: Be a Leader to Excel as a Software Developer

• Book of the week: Humble Inquiry

• Finds of the week: Lessons from laid off tech workers, software design by example, skills developers need beyond coding.

Tip of The Week: Be a Leader to Excel as a Software Developer

In order to excel as a software developer, it's important to move beyond the mindset of simply completing tasks that are assigned to you. Instead, you need to actively seek out opportunities to make an impact on the business and demonstrate your ability to create value.

Here are four ways to start having more impact as software developer:

1. Take ownership of your work: Instead of waiting to be assigned tasks, identify and take on the next highest priority work.

2. Identify opportunities for improvement or areas where you can add value. This could involve seeking out feedback from your colleagues, researching industry best practices, or proactively suggesting new project ideas.

3. Build relationships and network: Building strong relationships with your colleagues and other professionals in your industry is essential for expanding your knowledge and gaining new perspectives. Attend industry events, join online communities, and seek out mentorship opportunities to grow your network and learn from others.

4. Develop your leadership skills: You can start developing your leadership skills by volunteering to lead initiatives within your team. Focus on building strong communication skills, developing a deep understanding of your product space, and actively seek out opportunities to mentor and coach other engineers on your team.

Remember, becoming a more impactful software developer is a journey that requires continuous learning and growth. By taking ownership of your work, building relationships, and developing your leadership skills, you can start making a bigger impact today and set yourself up for success in the future.

Want to Level Up Your Coding Skills?

I believe the best way to do this is to build real-world applications. For that reason I write a weekly newsletter sharing Coding Challenges.

The coding challenges are all designed to walk you through the process of creating an application and to be less than eight hours work.

Each challenge has you focus on building real-world software rather than toy applications or algorithms and data structures.

You can tackle the challenges in the programming language of your choice. You can even tackle them in several different languages if you prefer.

You can see the challenges and subscribe on the Coding Challenges SubStack.

Book of The Week: Humble Inquiry - The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling

In this book Edgar H. Schein describes how to ask the right questions in the right way. Showing leaders how to ask engaging questions rather that create confrontation, fear and resentment.

The key ideas presented are:

1. The need for physiological safety in a team, so that people can freely express themselves.

2. The need to ask questions in a way that demonstrates trust, includes team members and respects them.

3. Sometimes you need to be direct, you can still be humble, i.e. “what made you decide…”

4. Phrase your perspective as a question: “Did we make this choice because…?” rather than: “Why did we make the wrong choice”.

5. Be vulnerable and seek first to understand before judging.

Share(s) of the Week:

1. 6 lessons from laid-off tech workers about finding a new job

2. Software Design by Example

3. An incomplete list of skills senior engineers need, beyond coding