Five Traits of a Great Software Engineer (SE)
Are you new to this job? Are you looking for ways to improve how you work? Here are five traits that I think would help you to be a more effective software engineer.
#1 Great SE’s are Good Listeners
Great software engineers are great listeners. Great listening is defined by really understanding someone's point of view; on where that someone is coming from. There are those people who are just waiting for their turn to talk while you’re talking about your take on a given subject. Software engineers like you should not fall victim to this kind of trait.
#2 Great SE’s are Team-players
It is important that a software engineer is a team player. Because the work that the team produces is the work that is handed over to the client or to the end-user.
I remember watching some random videos on Youtube. One of the videos I watched was one of Michael Jordan’s interviews during his NBA days. The interviewer asked Michael who is the best player in the NBA and Michael stated that the question is silly and we should be questioning instead who is the best team. And his answer was, of course, the Chicago Bulls.
This is how we should approach being in a team. Teams win champions not individuals. It does not matter if we will be one of the greatest software engineers in the world if you’re not part of a great team.
#3 Great SE’s Practice Empathy
A great software engineer does not only focus on the work but also is intentional in building strong relationships with the people we work with.
One of the strong ways to build a strong relationship is empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand another person and what are they currently feeling o going through.
Imagine a team that practices empathy, they can really work cohesively because they are comfortable with each other. They will always try to compensate for each other's strengths and weaknesses.
Also, practicing empathy brings happiness and joy to the workplace. Yes, there will be stressful times and for me, I would rather go through stressful times with a team that practices empathy than a team that only cares about their individual well-being.
#4 Attention to Detail
Have you heard of the tool, Resharper for Visual Studio? If yes, it’s a good chance you are using or have used C# to develop great software for companies. Resharper basically is a tool that helps developers write good code. To a more technical term, is a powerful linting tool that helps developers to be aware of the quality of their code.
But, we ourselves should pay attention to the code that we write. We should do our research on the best practices to do things in using the technologies we have. And we should be creative in the sense that we leverage the versatility of the technologies we use.
We won’t learn this in school. If we want to be a good software engineer then start acting like one. Start being proactive. Start researching. Start paying attention to the details of the work to be done.
#5 Book Worm
I believe to be a great software engineer one must develop a habit of reading. Why? Because, we as software engineers, read most of the time. We not only code, but we read the documentation of technologies we are currently using, new technologies we just heard of, and technologies that really helped other companies and now it might benefit the organization we are currently a part of.
Take Away
Being a great software engineer takes more than just technical skills. It takes a good person, too. A person in principle and integrity. A person who cares about the people around him. A person who deeply cares about the product and project that he is involved with.
Let me know your thoughts by commenting on this article.
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