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Get to be better than average at picking projects and tasks that have identifiable, meaningful deliverables. A history of highly evident impact is a huge part o

Get to be better than average at picking projects and tasks that have identifiable, meaningful deliverables. A history of highly evident impact is a huge part of a personal brand of success. Learn to avoid projects where the best outcome is "fail less hard." Avoid being brought in as life support. Don't be left holding the bag. Obviously, green-field projects hold the promise of easy prominence. But you can learn to spot other opportunities that aren't as obviously sexy, yet get you name recognition.

andher 5y ago
Yes, I had the same conclusion about careful project picking and greenfield projects did seem to hold more promise than others. I've found that its kinda hard to get on prominent greenfield projects as one of the founding members though, without some 'in'. Many of the ones I've looked at, by the time they start staffing publicly, have picked a bunch of the staff level folks via networks. My experience might be narrow on this though.
- legerdemain 5y ago
  I meant in your place of work. It's still generally the case that you won't be picked for flagship projects, but you can get better at finding remaining opportunities than others are.
  - tiddles 5y ago
    My personal experience - after nearly 3 years at my current employer working mostly on features and bug fixes for existing big projects, I've found myself at the centre of several greenfield projects that fit my expertise perfectly. I am now one of "the guys" to go to about these exciting long term projects, which is exactly what I was looking for.
quickthrower2 5y ago
Unless being life support if what you want to be known for: the superhero that can work with shitty code bases and get results while improving them. Guess what most software company have: plenty of shitty but mission critical code!
- legerdemain 5y ago
  There's nothing as uniquely shitty as getting placed on a floundering project, being told it can't be allowed to fail, and then getting absolutely no staff or resources to prevent that from happening.

andher 5y ago

Yes, I had the same conclusion about careful project picking and greenfield projects did seem to hold more promise than others. I've found that its kinda hard to get on prominent greenfield projects as one of the founding members though, without some 'in'. Many of the ones I've looked at, by the time they start staffing publicly, have picked a bunch of the staff level folks via networks. My experience might be narrow on this though.

legerdemain 5y ago
I meant in your place of work. It's still generally the case that you won't be picked for flagship projects, but you can get better at finding remaining opportunities than others are.
- tiddles 5y ago
  My personal experience - after nearly 3 years at my current employer working mostly on features and bug fixes for existing big projects, I've found myself at the centre of several greenfield projects that fit my expertise perfectly. I am now one of "the guys" to go to about these exciting long term projects, which is exactly what I was looking for.

quickthrower2 5y ago

Unless being life support if what you want to be known for: the superhero that can work with shitty code bases and get results while improving them. Guess what most software company have: plenty of shitty but mission critical code!

legerdemain 5y ago
There's nothing as uniquely shitty as getting placed on a floundering project, being told it can't be allowed to fail, and then getting absolutely no staff or resources to prevent that from happening.