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It looks like this comment is being downvoted because it appears to endorse being deceptive. I’d like to chime in and second the sentiment in slightly differen

It looks like this comment is being downvoted because it appears to endorse being deceptive. I’d like to chime in and second the sentiment in slightly different terms: value is not inherently visible. You can waste a lot of time contributing significant invisible value to a company with no recognition or reward. On the other hand, you can provide a small amount of value and receive significant recognition just by making that value as visible as possible. If you’re looking to have your value recognized, you need to commit energy to making it visible. This means different things in different roles and organizations, but it’s a critical skill to develop. And it doesn’t just apply in business relationships! Learn to make your value visible; it ensures the energy you put into anything is appropriately acknowledged.

bluGill 8y ago
If you don't have the personality to market yourself keep yourself in a position where you contribution is obvious. Working on a self directed project that makes tools for other developers can be fun, but if you can't sell the value of that work you should stay on a team that generates obvious features for paying customers. (which is to say work on projects where marketing will sell your work, this indirectly outsourcing making yourself visible to marketing)
rubber_duck 8y ago
All I'm saying is that most of what you're trying to accomplish relates to getting recognition and that's not guaranteed by simply doing the work - sometimes it's not even predicated on it. This is something that isn't obvious to new and idealistic juniors. OTOH maybe that's the way it should be - first you work your ass off and get real skills then you learn how to sell but have the skill to back it up. Also a LOT of people fall in to the trap of thinking just because they perceive something as valuable that it's actually valuable to the employer - zealous juniors learning best practices without knowing how to put them in context wasting time and effort and getting frustrated for not getting recognized even though they "are right" .

bluGill 8y ago

If you don't have the personality to market yourself keep yourself in a position where you contribution is obvious. Working on a self directed project that makes tools for other developers can be fun, but if you can't sell the value of that work you should stay on a team that generates obvious features for paying customers. (which is to say work on projects where marketing will sell your work, this indirectly outsourcing making yourself visible to marketing)

rubber_duck 8y ago

All I'm saying is that most of what you're trying to accomplish relates to getting recognition and that's not guaranteed by simply doing the work - sometimes it's not even predicated on it. This is something that isn't obvious to new and idealistic juniors. OTOH maybe that's the way it should be - first you work your ass off and get real skills then you learn how to sell but have the skill to back it up. Also a LOT of people fall in to the trap of thinking just because they perceive something as valuable that it's actually valuable to the employer - zealous juniors learning best practices without knowing how to put them in context wasting time and effort and getting frustrated for not getting recognized even though they "are right" .