Latest / DevQuestions with Tim Corey / 194 What Skills Will Help Me Advance in My Career?

Transcript

194 What Skills Will Help Me Advance in My Career? · DevQuestions with Tim Corey

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Dev Questions Podcast with Tim Corey.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Join us each episode as we tackle the questions you are asking about a career in software development, understanding the industry, and new technology.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you're just starting out or you want to grow stronger as a developer, this is the place to get your questions answered.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now, here's your host, expert developer and online educator, Tim Corey.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: What skills will help me advance in my career?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a question that came from the suggestion site.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have a suggestion, go to suggestions.iamtimcorey.com, ask it there, and hopefully you'll see your question answered in a future episode of Dev Questions.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, what skill is going to help me advance my career?
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: What are the things I need to do or know or be able to perform in order to advance in my career?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a list of five skills that I have found to be the most important ones for advancing in your career.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: I have advanced in my career in a number of different companies, from starting off the low end and moving rapidly up through.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: I have seen others as well who have done that, and others as well who have not done that.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: I have been in organizations where I came in lower and ended up higher than my peers.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I've seen others do the same.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, what are the things that you need to know or be able to do to advance in your career?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And for those of you who have not advanced yet, you're probably only practicing one of the five skills.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And the thing is, the one you're practicing is the least important when it comes to advancing your career.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about the five skills that I think are important to advancing your career.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, and the one you're probably practicing is technical skills.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, technical skills are absolutely important for developers.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you are a developer, you need to have technical skills.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a broad overall umbrella over database skills or programming or which languages, front end, back end, those kind of things, technical skills are important.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And you're probably spending the majority of your focus and time on making those better.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: But there's four more.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, communication skills.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is one that people avoid talking about.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: They avoid doing, they avoid thinking about, and they avoid the idea that it might even be important.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I tell you what, communication skills are vital.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, they may be the most important skill to have is communication skill.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: I was a software development consultant slash contractor, and I worked under a woman who would pick out jobs.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: She would bid them out, she would talk to the customer, she would get the requirements and then send them on to the various contractors that worked for her.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: I worked for her part-time for a while.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And at first, she would just hand me a job and I would do it.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: But what she realized was I would ask questions that would be very clear to her, and she was not exactly technical.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: She was knowledgeable enough to talk about it, but not really understanding how things worked.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so she just pass on and say, is this possible?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: How many hours will it take?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then pass that back to the customer.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: But what she found out was that I could talk in a way that the customer could understand, not just her.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: And instead of having to be a go-between, I could talk to the customer directly.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so I started doing that with her.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: We would go together and talk to a customer, and we could more easily communicate that way and more easily bid out a job.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Her other contractors didn't do that.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, I got more jobs and I had more opportunities because of the fact that I could speak well with a technical background, but yet be able to communicate that in a way that a person who is not technical can understand.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: That is very important.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: At some level above you, in almost any organization, your boss will not know what you do.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Your boss will not know C sharp code.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Your boss will not know even how the database works.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Your boss is just gonna know, I need this done.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And at some level above you, whether it's your direct boss or the boss above your boss or something, at some level, there comes a level of they just need you to get the job done.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes they'll ask for things that are unwise, they're not important, they're not the right way of going about it, because they don't know any better.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't have good communication skills, you're not gonna be able to communicate that in a way they hear, a way they understand.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so you'll either be looked at as a complainer, or you'll just be ignored and they'll say, do it anyway.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: I have had more than one occasion where I've been able to communicate to vice presidents and CEOs and say, this is how this works.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is what's possible, this is not what's possible, or what's not possible.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: And by being able to communicate clearly, they've been able to make better decisions, which makes my life easier.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: But that also means then they look at me and say, hey, you know what?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: That person, I want to talk to them more.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Communication skills will help you advance your career.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, ability to work in a team.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about you.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's not all about you.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you should be in charge of you.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: You should be in charge of your career, you should be in charge of when to leave and when to, you know, as far as an organization, when to, you know, quit and when to hire on a new new organization.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're working somewhere, you need to be able to work in the team.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Meaning, be a team player.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Meaning, maybe the way that the team, I don't know, uh, does code comments.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: You hate it.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Do it their way.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Don't just be the obstinate person that everyone hates, the one that does things differently and causes all kinds of problems.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you have to name variables in a way that's not as ideal or have line breaks in places you don't normally, because that's what's conforming to the team.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Being able to work in a team means being able to conform to things that might not be your the exact thing you want to do.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Doing so will allow you to build rapport, to be able to speak into that team, to be able to say, hey, you know what?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: In previous jobs, I've done this, and I it seemed to work in a way that I think might even benefit us.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have built rapport, if you built the ability in that team for them to trust you, they're more likely to listen to you and they're more likely to try it out.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And before you know it, you know what happened?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: You started to lead that team, even if that's not your role.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: You started to have people start saying, Hey, what are your thoughts on this?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, how about this?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And they start to look to you for some guidance.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it can lead you towards team leadership or being promoted because of your ability to work in the team, not just be one of the members, to be part of the cohesive whole.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, self-confidence.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: This is one that's hard when you don't feel it.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: I do not want the person who's overly confident.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a balance here.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: So don't just go with the fake it till you make it.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, to be confident in what you know of yourself.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: When you know a topic, be confident in that and speak to that in a way that may be intimidating at first, but to be able to speak up in a meeting or speak up on the team when you're working through an issue and say, hey, here's what I know.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now be humble in that and say, you know, leave room for you could be wrong, but speak up.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: I have seen people who are brilliant, who know a whole lot more than people around them, but who don't speak up and they get left behind.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, a wise manager will see that and move them, help move them in a position where they can do more good.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: But being self-confident, being able to speak up for yourself, speak up for what you know to be true, these things will help get you noticed.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And being noticed is a big part of advancing your career.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: A person who's never noticed has a much slower career trajectory than a person who is noticed for good things.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, the last thing I think, the last broad category of things that I think will help you advance your career is big picture thinking.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Too often people get focused in on the one little area they work on.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: They focus in on, well, but this, and it's my little my little fiefdom, my little my little area where I work, and they focus all their skills and energy on understanding and doing that one thing.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: And they forget the fact that that's not why the company exists.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: The company does not exist for your app, almost in every case.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, yes, software as a service company sometimes do, but for the most part, the company does not exist for your app.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Your app helps the company succeed.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's a difference.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you look beyond just what you do, and beyond even where necessarily you have the control, maybe you know, looking at the computer infrastructure and the networking and even marketing and all these other things, keep your ears open, keep your eyes open, and look at what the company does.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you have a big picture of what the company does and what the company's goals are, sometimes you can better align the things you do have control of to meet the overall big picture goals.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you can make suggestions, speaking up in a meeting and saying, hey, I know that we are looking to bring on 100 new customers by X.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Is there, what if we did this on our signup page?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you have control of signup page.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: You're not marketing.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: You're not, your goal is not to bring more people in, but if if you can do something in your area that would help marketing, that that big picture thinking will allow you to start to look beyond just your little area.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is where you start again to get noticed, again get to become larger than just the position you're in.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: I have been in positions where my actual job title was, you know, this much, not very much, and what I end up doing was a lot more.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And who I ended up helping was a lot more.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because when people start saying, oh, you can help us with that, and you start working them and say, hey, you know, yeah, we can do this, we can do that, within the scope of what you're allowed to do.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: But if you can start looking at that bigger picture and aligning better what you do to fit that bitter bigger picture, well, then you start expanding how much scope you have.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because people start giving you more ability to expand that scope.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, there's five things that will advance your career, and practicing all of these is important.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, the technical skills, it's not necessarily gonna be the most important thing for advancing your career.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: I have seen people, again, I have seen people who are extremely technical who have not advanced nearly as far as their peers.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because just focusing on technical skills will not be enough to move you forward in most circumstances.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, technical skills, communication skills, ability to work in a team, self-confidence, and big picture thinking.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: These are the five things that are important.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: And like any skill, it takes practice.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, I want you to focus on making your technical skills better, but practice these other four as well.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Practice speaking out more, practice being confident in what you know and who you are.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Practice working well within your team, practice looking at the bigger picture, practice writing clearer emails, writing clearer Teams messages or Slack messages that more that better communicate what you're thinking and what you're talking about in a way that people understand and grasp.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because doing these things will help you advance your career and they'll help you become or hit a much higher level by the time you're done than if you just focus on technical skills.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so there's much more being a software developer than just writing software.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: These five skills will really help take you to the next level.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening, and as always, I am Tim Corey.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for joining us for this episode of Deaf Questions.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_02: Tim is committed to making it easier for you to become a developer.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: If you would like to help make more content like this possible, please like, subscribe, rate, and share Deaf Questions.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: You can also send your questions to questions at IamTimcorey.com.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: Until next time, remember, you are too smart and your time too valuable to waste it making all the mistakes Tim did.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: When you're ready to learn to think and code like a professional developer, head over to imtimcore.com and enroll in a course.