4 ms·

How to Become a More Valuable Software Developer

15 points by jsonmez 13y ago

sebcat 13y ago
This goes against everything I was ever taught and everything I believe in. Do what you love. People will take notice. Your skill will improve. Your goal is self-fulfillment, not becoming more attractive to an employer or marketing yourself as a commodity on a job/freelance market. Pretty sure Mr. Clinton didn't become a president so he could charge the the hourly rate mentioned.
- oalders 13y ago
  Sure, but Mr. Clinton also knows how to get people to stand up and take notice. You can probably get by on just doing what you love, but the chances of you landing the job that you really love are greatly increased if you make it easy for people to see how much of an asset you really can be.
- Legion 13y ago
  > Pretty sure Mr. Clinton didn't become a president so he could charge the the hourly rate mentioned. No, but he promoted the hell out of himself to get the job. A great political mind with no self-promotion does not become President.
- gamegoblin 13y ago
  I fully agree with you. I am a senior in a computer science program. I know a lot of people in the department who I have seen tweaking their resumes and their linkedin pages for hours, and thinking of creative ways to inflate/BS their skills during interviews. They are always trying to contact friends for a "hook up" with some company. Something about this has always weirded me out. I don't have a linkedin, my resume is fairly plain and unexaggerated. I spend my time hobby coding and occasionally posting about my hobby coding on my personal website that, to my knowledge, is only linked to from my HN profile and my StackOverflow profile. I always figured that if I spent time actually developing my skills, rather than spending time thinking of ways to try to take shortcuts around developing skills, things would turn out better in the long run. I am the only one of us with a 6 figure job lined up after graduation (without applying, too).
  - phektus 13y ago
    I got touched by this. I used to spend a lot of time coding (already graduated) and never felt the need to do shortcuts on finding gigs. Once I went overseas I got overwhelmed by the old employment culture and suddenly became comfortable and 'recruiter'-friendly. Now I realized that it's not working, and being a well-rounded programmer means spending a lot of time programming outside work while still keeping a balanced lifestyle. Felt good to have finally closed my linkedin account. Can't say the same for fb though :P
- acjohnson55 13y ago
  If the author of the original post was overly cynical, you're running the risk of being overly naive. Doing great work that you enjoy is critical, but the reality is that you have to build value outside of your technical skills, or you risk limiting your potential opportunities. You don't have to be a narcissistic self-promoter. Just put yourself out there--as you've already done by posting something thoughtful. Be skilled, but also be industrious, authentic, and adventurous. That's my advice anyway.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
rurounijones 13y ago
Annoying popup ad after scrolling for a bit despite using AdBlock
- Alterlife 13y ago
  Talk about autopilot... I didn't even realize I closed a popup until I read this :-/ .
- eonil 13y ago
  I prefer adding some loopback addresses in `/etc/hosts`.
- xerophtye 13y ago
  I use Readability[1]. It just filters away all the stupid stuff out. [1] http://www.readability.com/ http://www.readability.com/
chasing 13y ago
First: Almost immediately shilling what appears to be some kind of "get smart fast" scheme of a book and then concluding with a clunky "sign up for my newsletter" undermines your content severely. Especially when that content is pretty weak sauce to begin with. And I don't like the attitude of assuming people are stupid (and can't tell the difference between an "80% margin of skill" and a "95% margin of skill," whatever that means). Assume the people you work with can tell the difference. I think you'll get further. At least, you'll lay the foundation of a reputation that will provide you way more opportunities as your career progresses. And "marketing yourself..." Please. Get out there. Meet people. Network. Be curious. Be honest. Be nice. But don't start trying to build some "personal brand" or whatever weird sort of facade you think will impress people. Most people see right through that stuff. The good ones will, at any rate.
- jsonmez 13y ago
  And what do you base your conclusions on? What do you have to back up your position? Impress us with how you have been extremely successful without learning how to market you skills. Like it or not, the world highly values marketing, to think otherwise is quite naive.
greenyoda 13y ago
Corporations pay $200K/hour to hear Bill Clinton speak because they can talk to him afterwards and profit from his incredible political connections. Your company wants to do oil drilling in Uzbekistan? Bill can introduce you to their president. Yes, he's an entertaining guy, but his earning power has nothing to do with his style.

15 points by jsonmez 13y ago

This goes against everything I was ever taught and everything I believe in. Do what you love. People will take notice. Your skill will improve. Your goal is self-fulfillment, not becoming more attractive to an employer or marketing yourself as a commodity on a job/freelance market. Pretty sure Mr. Clinton didn't become a president so he could charge the the hourly rate mentioned.

oalders 13y ago
Sure, but Mr. Clinton also knows how to get people to stand up and take notice. You can probably get by on just doing what you love, but the chances of you landing the job that you really love are greatly increased if you make it easy for people to see how much of an asset you really can be.
Legion 13y ago
> Pretty sure Mr. Clinton didn't become a president so he could charge the the hourly rate mentioned. No, but he promoted the hell out of himself to get the job. A great political mind with no self-promotion does not become President.
gamegoblin 13y ago
I fully agree with you. I am a senior in a computer science program. I know a lot of people in the department who I have seen tweaking their resumes and their linkedin pages for hours, and thinking of creative ways to inflate/BS their skills during interviews. They are always trying to contact friends for a "hook up" with some company. Something about this has always weirded me out. I don't have a linkedin, my resume is fairly plain and unexaggerated. I spend my time hobby coding and occasionally posting about my hobby coding on my personal website that, to my knowledge, is only linked to from my HN profile and my StackOverflow profile. I always figured that if I spent time actually developing my skills, rather than spending time thinking of ways to try to take shortcuts around developing skills, things would turn out better in the long run. I am the only one of us with a 6 figure job lined up after graduation (without applying, too).
- phektus 13y ago
  I got touched by this. I used to spend a lot of time coding (already graduated) and never felt the need to do shortcuts on finding gigs. Once I went overseas I got overwhelmed by the old employment culture and suddenly became comfortable and 'recruiter'-friendly. Now I realized that it's not working, and being a well-rounded programmer means spending a lot of time programming outside work while still keeping a balanced lifestyle. Felt good to have finally closed my linkedin account. Can't say the same for fb though :P
acjohnson55 13y ago
If the author of the original post was overly cynical, you're running the risk of being overly naive. Doing great work that you enjoy is critical, but the reality is that you have to build value outside of your technical skills, or you risk limiting your potential opportunities. You don't have to be a narcissistic self-promoter. Just put yourself out there--as you've already done by posting something thoughtful. Be skilled, but also be industrious, authentic, and adventurous. That's my advice anyway.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

rurounijones 13y ago

Annoying popup ad after scrolling for a bit despite using AdBlock

Alterlife 13y ago
Talk about autopilot... I didn't even realize I closed a popup until I read this :-/ .
eonil 13y ago
I prefer adding some loopback addresses in `/etc/hosts`.
xerophtye 13y ago
I use Readability[1]. It just filters away all the stupid stuff out. [1] http://www.readability.com/ http://www.readability.com/

chasing 13y ago

First: Almost immediately shilling what appears to be some kind of "get smart fast" scheme of a book and then concluding with a clunky "sign up for my newsletter" undermines your content severely. Especially when that content is pretty weak sauce to begin with. And I don't like the attitude of assuming people are stupid (and can't tell the difference between an "80% margin of skill" and a "95% margin of skill," whatever that means). Assume the people you work with can tell the difference. I think you'll get further. At least, you'll lay the foundation of a reputation that will provide you way more opportunities as your career progresses. And "marketing yourself..." Please. Get out there. Meet people. Network. Be curious. Be honest. Be nice. But don't start trying to build some "personal brand" or whatever weird sort of facade you think will impress people. Most people see right through that stuff. The good ones will, at any rate.

jsonmez 13y ago
And what do you base your conclusions on? What do you have to back up your position? Impress us with how you have been extremely successful without learning how to market you skills. Like it or not, the world highly values marketing, to think otherwise is quite naive.

greenyoda 13y ago

Corporations pay $200K/hour to hear Bill Clinton speak because they can talk to him afterwards and profit from his incredible political connections. Your company wants to do oil drilling in Uzbekistan? Bill can introduce you to their president. Yes, he's an entertaining guy, but his earning power has nothing to do with his style.