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That is an utterly fantastic article. One thing I'd like to add is that a senior engineer works to build a culture and team where anyone--especially themselves
by angersock 13y ago
That is an utterly fantastic article.
One thing I'd like to add is that a senior engineer works to build a culture and team where anyone--especially themselves--is replaceable. If you document your high-level thinking, if you break projects into lots of small manageable chunks, and make sure that at least one or two other people know everything you know, you will find that progress is a lot faster and that lots of bottlenecks magically disappear.
And ironically, for working to make yourself replaceable, you will probably find that you are treated better.
- cpeterso 13y agoAbsolutely. If you're not replaceable, then you won't be able to take on cool new opportunities without leaving your team on a lurch. Always be automating yourself out of your own job and mentoring your successor.
- analog31 13y agoAt times in my career, I've hesitated to do exactly this due to fear of being replaceable. Yet every time I've given up a cool responsibility, I've been rewarded with something even cooler. So I've learned to never fear making myself obsolete.
- angersock 13y agoSo, the way I look at it (paradoxical as it sounds): If somebody is not replaceable (and hence a potential bottleneck), they are by definition a risk. Therefore, it is in everyone's best interest to replace them and the system that enabled them, in order to harden everything against bad luck. The cowboy coder who wrote most of the MVP in PHP in a month, for example, should be replaced forthwith if she can't document her work and get the rest of the team up to speed--if for no other reason than that she is a liability as the team grows and more things depend on her not failing. It's kind of a counter-intuitive way of looking at it, but it makes sense.