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There are times I wish I could go back to my younger self and explain exactly this. Unfortunately it took me almost a decade as a software engineer before I rea

by jobu 12y ago

There are times I wish I could go back to my younger self and explain exactly this. Unfortunately it took me almost a decade as a software engineer before I realized there was a career barrier without being able to communicate effectively when writing or presenting. It's possible to stay as an average engineer for a long time, but if you want to try being an Architect, then at least 50% of your time is spent writing or public speaking. If you want to be an engineering manager, that's over 90%. Fortunately a company I used to work for believed pretty strongly in cultivating these "soft skills", so they incentivized things like Tech Talks, and covered the cost of courses like Dale Carnegie.

coolsunglasses 12y ago
How did they go about incentivizing tech talks? Have you written anywhere about the things this company did?
- jobu 12y ago
  The TechTalks had a few purposes. First, it was to spread knowledge within the company about what other groups were working on and how they were doing it. Second, it was for recruiting new developers. (If the talk went well internally, then we were often asked to do it again for local developer groups or meetups at area colleges.) Third, it was part of the career development they tried to do - trying to create good Architects that knew the business and the problems that needed to be solved. The talks were incentivized as part of the bonus structure. If the company did well, and you completed your goals, then you could get up to X% of your salary as a bonus. (Also, they usually included free lunch) The technology and the people at that company were really great to work with - I probably got more experience in one year there than five years at any other company. Unfortunately it was in the advertising business, so many of the business practices were slimy and cutthroat. (It seemed like every month we had a crisis where either Google, Microsoft, or Apple didn't like what we were doing and wanted to shut it down.)

by jobu 12y ago

coolsunglasses 12y ago

How did they go about incentivizing tech talks? Have you written anywhere about the things this company did?

jobu 12y ago
The TechTalks had a few purposes. First, it was to spread knowledge within the company about what other groups were working on and how they were doing it. Second, it was for recruiting new developers. (If the talk went well internally, then we were often asked to do it again for local developer groups or meetups at area colleges.) Third, it was part of the career development they tried to do - trying to create good Architects that knew the business and the problems that needed to be solved. The talks were incentivized as part of the bonus structure. If the company did well, and you completed your goals, then you could get up to X% of your salary as a bonus. (Also, they usually included free lunch) The technology and the people at that company were really great to work with - I probably got more experience in one year there than five years at any other company. Unfortunately it was in the advertising business, so many of the business practices were slimy and cutthroat. (It seemed like every month we had a crisis where either Google, Microsoft, or Apple didn't like what we were doing and wanted to shut it down.)