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Ask HN: What made you an effective software engineer in 2018?

17 points| iron_oxide | 7 years ago

Looking back what skill/technology/mindset/habit/etc made you effective this year? Any advice for junior engineers/devs?

8 comments

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[+] paktek123|7 years ago|reply
I think what made me effective was the ability to deliver within deadlines. This is mainly due to planning and knowing the technology and its quirks.

My advice to junior devs would be always read up and understand a technology to know how you plan. Sure there will be times where something unexpected comes up but having multiple scenarios helps that way you don't end up in a rabbit hole.

[+] henryscala|7 years ago|reply
I used Typora to keep a to-do list almost every week (I planed to do it everyday, but failed). The to-do list history showed what I did, where I was and what to do. It makes me don't forget to finish assignments. It makes me do things in priority. It turned out to be valuable when my leader asked me to feedback what I did in this year. I cannot recall that many things I did without the journal I kept.
[+] quickthrower2|7 years ago|reply
Keep organised. I use onenote and outlook but anything will do. I keep my inbox zeroed, make task level personal notes on onenote, and share info on onenote and Jira as appropriate. I try to avoid using slack for any information I’d want to retrieve tomorrow or beyond.
[+] potta_coffee|7 years ago|reply
Being able to communicate with stakeholders, people in other departments if there are any, basically internal and external customers, and take that communication and convert it into meaningful and effective action.
[+] elfuego|7 years ago|reply
What steps did you take to develop these skills?
[+] drakonka|7 years ago|reply
Recognising when it was time to transfer to a new position (within the same company) where I could continue growing as an SE, and acting on it.