Straight Talk: Lessons from My Coding Career (2)

This series is a reflection of what I wish I knew or had applied in the past. Here's part 2—I’d love to wrap it up soon and move on, as talking about engineering is a bit more fun! Anyway, let’s dive in.

Temporary Loss of Employment

Being good at your craft and providing value to your employer and yourself is largely within your control. However, there are factors that might be slightly out of your hands. A major one in our field is loss of employment. We see it in the news: layoffs, business restructurings, acquisitions, business failures.

Many things contribute, and brilliant developers are minted daily, it might be you in time, so always keep your resume updated. Stay aware of market needs and hiring patterns.

Firings also happen, so if it happens, self-reflect, take a little break, get another role, start your venture or pivot to another field. Whichever way, you have the ability. There are lots of resources and opportunities out there—find them and create what you want. Practice, learn, grow. You know how to build great software. You will be good.

Keep a Daily Log

The importance of maintaining a daily log cannot be overstated. Record your daily activities, achievements, blockers, and every action you take. Track your output, and plan for the next day. This should be done systematically, and each activity should feed into the team and company goals for the sprint, quarter, or year. If you see yourself falling behind, do something! Reach out for help, learn what you need, and fix it. Your role exists for a reason; make sure your output is at 120% every day.

Keep a Brag Document

Shout out to Nick Cosentino for this idea . His YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYOHDAUTFbw) explains it better than I ever could, but the gist is to make sure you're tracking your milestones and recording your achievements.

Document your challenges and expectations. This document will be invaluable during performance reviews and promotion discussions. If you’re making a significant impact and you have it all tracked, you’re on your way to getting promoted. Nick offers a template, and many others exist—find one that works for you and use it.

Your Manager is not Your Therapist

Keep "non-work" related struggles to yourself, your job is to make the team more productive. The manager is there to help you do that-only. If you are not very organized or have knowledge gaps, work on them(in private, build a simple CRUD app over the weekend, for example). Cut yourself some slack, but demand excellence from yourself. Are you aligned with your personal goals? the team goal? the organization’s goals? Stay in sync and leverage every one-on-one.

Love Programming

I have worked with brilliant engineers and engineering managers, one common theme among them is this: they love programming. I once knew someone who got genuinely excited when it was time to code or tinker!

If you don't love programming and the goodness it brings, It's time to start loving it. Every commit and PR approval should feel like a dopamine hit. Train your mind to dream in code. I'm kidding, but you get my point. If you love it, you’ll excel at it, you’ll master your tools, have fun, and easily navigate the other "rough" areas of our field. Loving code is also a great defense against burnout.

Have a Life Outside

Take time off. Cultivate hobbies, spend time with family and friends, go on that road trip. Whatever it is, nurture them. The job might end. You’ll retire. And who knows? Artificial intelligence is coming (just kidding… maybe). What remains? Your health, friendships, and relationships. Keep them healthy.

Learn Systems Thinking

The world runs on systems—your employer has one, your team has one, and you have one too. Always look for ways to improve them. Propose suggestions, work on rough solutions, and get buy-in (fun fact: Angular was invented this way). You’re part of the whole—play your part, and be a net positive.

Keep the Big Picture in Mind

Know the business. What value is your employer providing? How are you helping your employer do that? What can you do better? Do you have ideas or suggestions? Are you providing quality, timely work? Are you over-delivering?

When you screw up, take ownership and make it a learning experience.

Except for the most trivial tasks, make sure you have a line of attack, before launching that editor or IDE.

Many organizations have adopted the agile methodology, write that sprint goal and affirm it in your daily logs. Learn how to use AI, communicate on the public Slack channel. You are there to help customers, they do NOT care about that elegant code. They pay you to help them achieve their goals, make sure you are doing that on your desk. Guard your credibility, take breaks, enjoy the journey.

Have fun along the way.

Let me know if there's anything else you'd like me to tweak!

The end...

My comments are personal do not communicate the views of my past or current employer