Soft Skills Engineering

Thanks to all the people who pointed us to the Single Level of Abstraction Principle which we obliquely referred to in episode 57. We answer these two questions: How can I convince management to pay for developer training? Should I mention unrelated experience on an application?

Dave and Jamison were out this week, so we have a re-run of a DEEP CUT for you. This originally aired as episode 18. We answer these two questions: I have a part-time job as a developer while I’m still in school. Should I drop out and just work full time? How do I prepare for a job interview?

I’ve been pushed in to doing management tasks I really don’t enjoy. What do I do? How do I handle a co-worker who I really struggle to get along with? Dave and Jamison answer these questions:

How do I keep meetings on track? I work in an agency with a designer-centric culture. How do I make myself heard? Dave and Jamison answer these questions:

It’s a special ng-conf live episode! Dave and Jamison answer these questions in front of a live audience: When you go freelancing, do your coding skills atrophy? What is something you wish you knew about freelancing before you started? I met all my aggressive career goals. What next? Here is the Khan Academy Engineering Ladder Jamison mentioned towards the end of the show.

Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Our codebase is really bad, and management hired a contractor behind our backs to rewrite it. What should I do? How important are job titles when looking for a new job? Here is the Khan Academy Engineering Ladder Jamison mentioned towards the end of the show.

Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I was hired for one thing, but ended up doing something very different that I don’t enjoy. What do I do? How do I tell my manager that I’m moving into management on another team?

Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I feel guilty about how slow I’m working. What should I do? I’d like to find a job, but I don’t have any completed side projects or an interesting GitHub profile. How can I explain this?

Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I’m a junior developer on a team of seniors, and I’m also the Scrum Master. Our team has lots of problems. What do I do? Jamison openly talks about not finishing his degree. How did he put it on his resume or explain it to potential employers? In question two Jamison discovers he has been lying on his LinkedIn profile for half a decade, and freaks out a little bit. The mistake is corrected, but can the damage ever be undone? Tune in next week on SOFT SKILLS ENGINEERING.

Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I didn’t quit my job. Did I mess up? I was hired to manage a team, but it is actually just me. What do I do?