11. Perception is reality. Ideas mean nothing if you can't sell them. Providing actual value to the company means nothing if you can't sell it. You will work wi

11. Perception is reality. Ideas mean nothing if you can't sell them. Providing actual value to the company means nothing if you can't sell it. You will work with people who cause more damage to the company than they bring benefit but are good at selling it. It does not matter what you think about what you are doing, it only matters what other people think. If you can be good technically and be a good communicator, the world is your oyster. 12. Most developers are very wrong about what would bring value to their managers. If you think you are underappreciated for your good work, there might be potentially very simple things that you could change that you aren't aware that could make you much more successful. Your manager might care less about how elegant your solution is but might remember you were two days late with it because he had to explain to his boss why the entire feature got delayed. Every situation is different and there is nobody on your team to help you -- you are responsible for reading the situation and making what is important. -- And regarding: > 10) You will profit more from good soft skills than from good technical skills I would add more. You will profit more from learning an orthogonal skill or field. You can be good developer by just being able to gather requirements and implement them. But you can be extremely valuable, sought after specialist if you know how to do those things AND ALSO know some other field not commonly considered by developers.