Category: Team

The Two Sides to Job Hunting

I have had students ask me about how to get hired or who is hiring. I have also had employers ask me how to find developers when they have had a tough time hiring quality employees. These are tough questions to answer, but I have been on both sides of the table.

Continue reading The Two Sides to Job Hunting

Development Team Relationships

This week I pushed out some old blogs outlining the relationships between senior and more junior developers. I did this because I thought it was very important to listen to each other. We can all learn from old and new experiences. Continue reading Development Team Relationships

Enhance Your Technology Career By Learning To Speak

Have you ever had a customer, co-worker or manager look at you as if you had two heads? When an IT Professional, speaks it is very important that who we speak to understands what we are saying. You cannot sell an idea, explain an issue or develop a project plan if you who you are speaking to does not understand. The use of jargon is the biggest obstacle that IT Professionals face. Continue reading Enhance Your Technology Career By Learning To Speak

Do I Need Source Control

Yes!  For the first time in my 15-year career I had experienced what it is like to not have source control, and I had hated it.  I had lost a very difficult to write SQL statement in a project.  It seemed almost impossible to rewrite the SQL for the second time.   I believe it was two of us working in the same project that had caused this loss of code.   I take the blame because I am the manager and I knew that source control was not implemented.  I should have taken the time to take all of the projects and check them into the source control system. Continue reading Do I Need Source Control

Importance of Code Refactoring

By continuously improving the design of code, we make it easier and easier to work with. This is in sharp contrast to what typically happens: little refactoring and a great deal of attention paid to expediently adding new features. If you get into the hygienic habit of refactoring continuously, you’ll find that it is easier to extend and maintain code.
—- Joshua Kerievsky, Refactoring to Patterns

I had recently seen the above quote while sifting through some periodicals that I read and it reminded of the importance of Code Refactoring. Refacotring is a mindset that you must put yourself into. You have to decide that you do not write perfect code the first time and that there may be some room for improvement. An hour or two a day may be all you need to review your own code.

I recently spent two hours reviewing code from one of my modules that I had written. It had the same or similar code written in 5 sections in the code and had the same purpose to these sections. Each section had 11 or more lines of code in it. I took one of those sections of code and converted it to a function and then replaced the 5 sections with this new function. Ultimately I had eliminated 51 lines of code out of one module.

Reasons for Refactoring Code
1. Consolidating and eliminating “Like” or “Similar” Code
2. Breaking out a extraordinary long function into more manageable bites
3. Make error trapping easier to handle
4. Make code more readable and maintainable
5. Removing nested IF or logic Loops
6. Make it easier to document
7. Create Reusable code
8. Better class and function cohesion.

The benefits now are the following:
1. Similar code is now the same which is the way it was meant to be ( coded over three days, the code morphed a bit ).
2. Since the code had the same purpose, it looks the same now and behaves the same.
3. Code is in one spot instead of 5 – makes it easier for a base change
4. Error trapping is much more controlled.

If you cannot review your own code ( some people cannot and should not be ashamed for it ), you should get yourself someone you can trust to review the code for you. The do not have to modify the code, they can either insert comments to you, print out and scribble on the pages or meet with you. Never take it as bad thing if someone wants to change your code; take it as a learning experience. If you are using someone else, challenge them back. Make sure they know what they are talking about. A face to face meeting is always a good idea. A mentor, or team lead should be taking on the role of code reviewer. Code reviewer should be recommending ways to refactor your code. This should be done prior to release, deployment and ending a project. The review should always be done with the developer(s) responsible for writing the code. Should never be done without as that undermines the developer(s) and no one learns anything from it.

When a Developer Leaves

To start; I am not saying this is me, but I did talk to a few developers for research.

Employers are often left scratching their heads when a developer leaves. The unfortunately truth is when one leaves another often follows not to long after. It is very hard to understand why the first developer left let alone the second or third. I believe as a employer, team lead or VP, you should know some of the “WHY” for a better understanding of a developer’s behavior. I admit we are a strange brew of employees.

Developers like to be challenged and appreciated. When the challenge is gone, so is the developers will to continue. Developers need to know that they will not be doing the same thing day in and day out. They really need to mix things up a bit. They need responsibilities, new tasks and freedom to try new things on their own. They also need to know they have the company’s support to continue education, and not just a pat on the back. Try to hire from within the team before you look for that new manager. Sometimes you have the perfect leader within the company already.

Developers also have a keen sense of appreciation. They do not need a thank you, or a pat on the back from their employer all the time, but they definitely know when they are being exploited and taken advantage of. More and more companies are introducing foosball, video games and fun activities to show their developers that they can have fun and are appreciated. It is the little things that go a long way. A BBQ in the summer with some good laughs and keep the spirits a little brighter.

These are just brief explanations of why a developer may leave a company, but very rarely is it just for more money. There is often more to it. An exiting interview may shed more light on the “WHY”, but more likely you will never know. An observation that I have made recently; there is a real misunderstanding of junior developers. Junior developers are ones that leave their company the most. Junior developers leave because they are treated poorly by senior staff, paid unfair salaries, no or little vacations and benefits and simply they often do not feel apart of the team. Junior developers add value to any team for a couple reasons.

  • Successorship for senior developers
  • Brings new ideas and techniques to the table
  • They still absorb new information at a fast rate

Why would other developers leave shortly after?
Loyalty is often a factor. Developers are social creatures who form a tight community that is often hard to break into. They often congregate at bars and coffee shops after hours or on breaks to share and implement ideas. This form of interactions creates a tight bond. If a company hires one developer, it is not uncommon for that developer to want to take a few of his trusted colleagues with him. This is a practice that shows the tight bond and trust between the development community. Developers like to work with people they know and trust. It is also becoming a more common practice for the new employer to try to take an entire team of developers that are linked by a common employer or group. This helps create a stronger team.

What Not to Say to a Developer
I was once told that I would never be able to advance out of my position because I was too good at it. These words are like knives going into the heart. A developer likes to be challenged and advance through their career like anyone else in the workforce. Developers are often known to put their heart and sole into their work; often giving 110% of themselves. Advancement is often equal to being similar to being appreciated and/or trusted. Nothing kills a employee’s will to continue faster than words. Chose your words wisely.

Strange Creatures
Developers are strange creatures. They are creatures of habits ( generalization ) and often do not like change. Exception here is developers often embrace changes as in new technology and ideas. When I say they do not like change, they do not like to

move homes, place of work, parking spots, watering holes, etc. They like their every day habits and routines. When a developer leaves it is often a big decision and they did not take it lightly. It is often not a personal reflection on the company, but rather a personal reflection of themselves.

Quick Points

  1. Find out what other companies are doing to keep their developers engaged and happy
  2. Talk to your developers often on a personal level
  3. Create a trust with your developers. Do not give them a reason to not trust you.( Example: monitoring internet usage and emails )
  4. Give them freedom. Allow them to occasionally work on projects of interest ( Google often does this and then makes money from the side projects )
  5. Let them use social media to keep connected and build the communities. You do not want your developer to feel isolated. Non-techie people often do not understand a developer
  6. Do your hardest to create real expectations, and not push crazy hours. Developer burnout is rampant in small companies
  7. Do your best not to call your developer all hours of the night and every day when they are on vacation. You would not want this for yourself.
  8. Treat your developer as you would want to be treated

What are you bringing to your team

Every team has a slacker.  Your team can be at work, on the rink, ball diamond, or your marriage.  Are you the slacker?   Why are you the slacker?  Are you listening to people other than yourself?

Everyone has the ability to listen to themselves, but are you listening to others.  If you are not listening, you are probably not contributing to your team fully.   Your team needs you.   It is not about your needs ( well may be a little ).   If you make it more about your team, you will be a better person and team player.

There are various reasons that you may not be bringing enough to your team:

  1. You may not be aware.  Try listening
  2. Your skills may not be up to snuff. You know how to learn – so do it.
  3. You are bored.   Really?   Learn something new.  Try something new.
  4. You are lazy.  Sorry, I cannot help you with that.   Look in the mirror and see if you can live with it.
  5. You do not respect your team member(s).  Why not?  Figure it out and resolve it.   Everyone has a different personality, learn the good things about that person(s)
  6. You are too quiet… sit up and use your voice.
There are many more reasons and solutions to the reasons.   You need to evaluate your position within the team.  If you are not pulling your weight or not being 100% to your ability, you are letting yourself down and your team.