I frequent it in bouts, mostly when assigned to spearhead an effort…leading is really all about helping others get past blockers and showing them how to swim on their own.
It’s an overwhelming yet fulfilling feeling though – you are the Subject Matter Expert (S.M.E.) in a given area and everyone looks to you for questions. You won’t always have all the answers but you know how to find it, that’s one key skill to transfer in leading junior engineers amongst several others such as:
- Clear communication
- Focus / Perseverance
- Researching / Experimentation
You HAVE to communicate concisely, sometimes over-communicate. That’s how important it is, especially in the time we are living in (pandemic/working from home). Alongside, the subject matter itself can be inherently complex.
A lot of people label coding as “hard” because they may lack the focus it demands for comprehension. You gotta wrap your head around things and sometimes it takes time, that’s just the nature of the beast. Sure having a certain skill set helps a lot. But it’s not required. This is not to say that anyone is incapable. Part of Elon Musk’s strategy at approaching problems involves breaking them down to their “fundamental truth”.
And then experimenting is probably the biggest underlying skill in this field. Software engineers just like scientists, are always learning… maybe that’s why they’re called computer scientists, ha. Learning by doing helps things make so much more sense. I always think of the expression “you can lead a horse to the water, but you can’t make him drink” – it’s the step junior engineers have to get comfortable in sooner rather than later. The sooner you fall the better, and some people get it…you will sink or swim. I have seen folks who DON’T get it, and rely on others help to progress. Needless to say but their method was not sustainable.
Everyone needs a mentor when entering a software team or just delving into software in general. It doesn’t happen a lot though. This is why I created the DevMeNow program. Alongside mentoring, I love sharing ideas with bright individuals from different backgrounds. It’s refreshing to hear new perspectives. I myself learn from mentees too, it’s a win-win relationship.
If you want to know more about the DevMeNow program, sign up for the weekly webinar here or shoot me an email at mike@greenphoenixengineering.com.
Cheers,
MikeE