Soft Skills Engineering

In episode 26, Jamison and Dave answer these question: How do you make sure people know about your good work? See Matt Zabriskie’s great post for background on this. We also mentioned Do Things, Write About It. How do you get your point across effectively so you don’t have to say “I told you so” later?

In episode 25, Jamison and Dave answer these question: How do I understand the business side better? Analysis of tabs vs spaces How does your business make money? Just ask your CEO/manager Kill the myth of the pointy-haired boss Smaller companies expose you to this more Just ask questions: What was our revenue last month? How much did we spend last month? Who are our biggest customers? How does the sales process work? The Dave Smith Method® for learning business jargon. Be kind and have empathy when you learn. Can I be a good technical manager without a technical background? Technical leadership vs management. Management means empathy and understanding. Can you get that without “coming up through the ranks”? What are the skills of a good manager? Does being a developer give you those skills? Dave is a Night Elf Code Mage. How do you handle technical concerns as a non-technical person? Don’t fake technical knowledge. Leading a team when you don’t directly see the effect of your actions. Managing Nerds by Rands. Jamison’s former boss’s technical expertise

In episode 24, Jamison and Dave answer this question: As a software developer, should I be a generalist or a specialist? This was inspired by a Twitter conversation here: https://twitter.com/iam_preethi/status/766758679743954944

In episode 23, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: You are asked to be a CTO of a start-up. What questions would you ask in order to decide whether to join, and what things would you give most attention to, if you do join? I REALLY want and deserve a raise so I hope you two discuss how a nerdy introvert gets the CFO of a small privately owned business to want to give her more money when she’s already happily donating an additional 10-20 hours a week.

In episode 21, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: What’s up with all this health insurance jargon? How do I get started contributing to open source?

In episode 21, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: What kind of work should interns be given? How do you handle developers who are dead weight?

In episode 20, Jamison and Dave share some stories from people who have been fired. We also answer this question: How do I make code reviews more effective? It feels like reviewers fit into 2 categories: either they are too quick and superficial, or they get bogged down in nit picks.

In episode 19, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: Would you ever fire someone over a coding mistake? For example, should you empathize with ignorance and explain how SQL injection works or is the mistake so basic as to be intolerable. Would you change your answer if the mistake was found during a code review or found as the source of a data breach? How do you positively represent the desire to be demoted? I am called a ‘senior engineer’, but I got that way because of null instead of actual skill. I would like to be a senior engineer at some point, but I would be a better one if I travel more where I have seniors to look up to, established processes etc rather than stressing about defining everything myself; but that’s a weird thing to say to a current or potential boss and is hard to do without also volunteering for a pay cut.

In episode 18, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: I’m a computer science major who still has a couple years of school left. I also have a part time job doing web development. I love what I’m learning and doing at work to the point that I question if it’s worth investing two more years into school. How would you counsel someone in my position? From listener Antonio: How do I prepare for an interview?

In episode 17, Jamison and Dave answer these questions: From listener Greg Harrison: I want to build a side-project, but my lack of coming up with a good idea saps my motivation. Do you guys have any tips? Have you ever been fired? What happened? How do you bounce back?