4 ms·

This captures a lot of what I have always wanted to express. I am of same cohort as the author, and aside from being laid off once (which, honestly, was wonderf

This captures a lot of what I have always wanted to express. I am of same cohort as the author, and aside from being laid off once (which, honestly, was wonderful) I have managed to stay well employed 30 years in tech. I hold no degree. I have no specific super powers. But, yes... everything stated here rings true for me. I would, humbly, add some of my own. Learn the people patterns. Every where I have worked has at least a few, if not all, members of Typical IT Cast Of Characters. There is the "know-it-all-but-does-not", "wise old sage", "management climber", "new guy", "one-job-and-doesn't-want-to-change", "hockey-jersey-guy-who-smells-but-knows-too-much", etc. Pick your own. Most of these people will avoid, tolerate, get along with, or maybe love the others. Or some combination thereof. I have found being the impartial mediator to be advantageous. Be the "Ferris Bueller". Know the business as well as the tech. Technologists that can dive into the business language and work with both groups are invaluable. Diagrams. Work hard on developing the capability to express ideas/concepts/flows in a diagram that fits on one sheet of paper. Do this all the time...even for one-offs. As the author states, it helps build your brand. It's advertising. When I see a one-pager I did 6 months ago on a desk covered with coffee stains, or pinned to the wall above monitor...I know I have made an impression. I worked with a few masters of this craft, and honestly, they are all magic on any team. Share credit constantly. Don't ever appear that you need validation. Give good ideas away for team members to catch and grow. You will build a community around you that seek you out for guidance. Time passes quickly... that junior dev you credited for a schema re-jig 5 years ago is now a VP at BigCo. She didn't forget. Keep in touch, right?

daniel_reetz 5y ago
I'm not quite as far along as you, but this deeply resonates with my experience. Great writeup, thank you.
- canadian_tired 5y ago
  Happy to help...at least a bit.
altonzheng 5y ago
Thanks, I'm early-mid career, and this feels like really good advice. It almost seems obvious: be helpful, don't be an asshole, and you'll be fine.
AlexCoventry 5y ago
> Be the "Ferris Bueller". I don't follow. Which characteristics of Ferris Bueller are you suggesting to emulate?
- bussierem 5y ago
  The "What are you still doing here? It's over! Go home!" part. :D
- spenczar5 5y ago
  > Oh, he's very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHa1zTLrXO8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHa1zTLrXO8
  - canadian_tired 5y ago
    Beat me to it. But yes. Especially the wastoids.
hidden-spyder 5y ago
> I worked with a few masters of this craft, and honestly, they are all magic on any team. Any advice you'd like to share regarding this?
- canadian_tired 5y ago
  Sure. Let me clarify first: The craft I refer to is the ability to create clear, detailed diagrams that not only document a system (like a layer 3 diagram), but also to express a series of ideas or concepts that a group of people is trying to wrap their head around. Effective use color, metaphor, and just enough text. These people obviously are not just artists...they need to understand what they draw. This is rare skill. Pictures can sell ideas, gain consensus, and move things ahead faster than a dozen emails and conf calls. Especially with Management. You won't get the attention of management with a 20 page dissertation...much less change their mind. I know, I have tried. In one case, we were trying to convince an army of execs to invest (substantially) in a large re-write. We had explained in detail, why it was needed. In the end it was a single diagram that sold our idea. We showed them how ugly the code base was with a cyclic dependency diagram. That hit them square in the eyes. We got the funding after that. These people are hard to find...but you can (as I have) try to emulate them. I can suggest some books...I started with Edward Tufte's. Beautiful diagrams...and why they are beautiful. You can also look into the various "Napkin Books" from Dan Roam. When I find a particularly amazing diagram, I keep a copy of it for reference. It helps me structure ideas and how I will communicate them to my leadership or my team. You can, with care, put an awful lot of data on a single page. Again, make a lot of diagrams. If a concept, workflow, procedure, etc moves from unknown to known (mechanism by which this happens is not important) , draw the picture and send it out. If it never gets used again, at least you practiced the drawing and people know you can do it. Develop a style. A color palette. Certain styles of arrows. The list goes on. Tooling: I love Visio. Damn, it's a fun tool. There are a few web-based tools... Omnigraffle, Lucidchart... not as good. At least for me. You can bang stuff out fast in Powerpoint, too. I keep a big pile of templates that I have massed over the years. Never used photoshop...not even once. Although, I keep inkscape and gimp around if I have to muck with actual images...but I really try to avoid that.
  - 5y ago
hamburglar 5y ago
> Share credit constantly. Don't ever appear that you need validation. Give good ideas away for team members to catch and grow. You will build a community around you that seek you out for guidance. This is huge. I am the most senior dev in an organization of about 40 and one of my favorite things to do is to take an idea and hand it over to a junior dev to run with, then completely give them all credit. It is a huge boost to their confidence, they appreciate the gesture and public praise, and your bosses are well aware of what happened even if you never say anything. Amplify your impact by lifting others up.
- canadian_tired 5y ago
  Doesn't that feel incredible? Just one win like that can make a whole month or more of happy thoughts for me. I benefited from a manager like this early on...never forgot. Now, when I can, I pass it on.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

daniel_reetz 5y ago

I'm not quite as far along as you, but this deeply resonates with my experience. Great writeup, thank you.

canadian_tired 5y ago
Happy to help...at least a bit.

altonzheng 5y ago

Thanks, I'm early-mid career, and this feels like really good advice. It almost seems obvious: be helpful, don't be an asshole, and you'll be fine.

AlexCoventry 5y ago

> Be the "Ferris Bueller". I don't follow. Which characteristics of Ferris Bueller are you suggesting to emulate?

bussierem 5y ago
The "What are you still doing here? It's over! Go home!" part. :D
spenczar5 5y ago
> Oh, he's very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHa1zTLrXO8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHa1zTLrXO8
- canadian_tired 5y ago
  Beat me to it. But yes. Especially the wastoids.

hidden-spyder 5y ago

> I worked with a few masters of this craft, and honestly, they are all magic on any team. Any advice you'd like to share regarding this?

canadian_tired 5y ago
Sure. Let me clarify first: The craft I refer to is the ability to create clear, detailed diagrams that not only document a system (like a layer 3 diagram), but also to express a series of ideas or concepts that a group of people is trying to wrap their head around. Effective use color, metaphor, and just enough text. These people obviously are not just artists...they need to understand what they draw. This is rare skill. Pictures can sell ideas, gain consensus, and move things ahead faster than a dozen emails and conf calls. Especially with Management. You won't get the attention of management with a 20 page dissertation...much less change their mind. I know, I have tried. In one case, we were trying to convince an army of execs to invest (substantially) in a large re-write. We had explained in detail, why it was needed. In the end it was a single diagram that sold our idea. We showed them how ugly the code base was with a cyclic dependency diagram. That hit them square in the eyes. We got the funding after that. These people are hard to find...but you can (as I have) try to emulate them. I can suggest some books...I started with Edward Tufte's. Beautiful diagrams...and why they are beautiful. You can also look into the various "Napkin Books" from Dan Roam. When I find a particularly amazing diagram, I keep a copy of it for reference. It helps me structure ideas and how I will communicate them to my leadership or my team. You can, with care, put an awful lot of data on a single page. Again, make a lot of diagrams. If a concept, workflow, procedure, etc moves from unknown to known (mechanism by which this happens is not important) , draw the picture and send it out. If it never gets used again, at least you practiced the drawing and people know you can do it. Develop a style. A color palette. Certain styles of arrows. The list goes on. Tooling: I love Visio. Damn, it's a fun tool. There are a few web-based tools... Omnigraffle, Lucidchart... not as good. At least for me. You can bang stuff out fast in Powerpoint, too. I keep a big pile of templates that I have massed over the years. Never used photoshop...not even once. Although, I keep inkscape and gimp around if I have to muck with actual images...but I really try to avoid that.
- 5y ago

hamburglar 5y ago

> Share credit constantly. Don't ever appear that you need validation. Give good ideas away for team members to catch and grow. You will build a community around you that seek you out for guidance. This is huge. I am the most senior dev in an organization of about 40 and one of my favorite things to do is to take an idea and hand it over to a junior dev to run with, then completely give them all credit. It is a huge boost to their confidence, they appreciate the gesture and public praise, and your bosses are well aware of what happened even if you never say anything. Amplify your impact by lifting others up.

canadian_tired 5y ago
Doesn't that feel incredible? Just one win like that can make a whole month or more of happy thoughts for me. I benefited from a manager like this early on...never forgot. Now, when I can, I pass it on.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]