Secrets of a role of a coder (aka Developer)

Coding is a bit different skill in Tech than other skills. For some, it is a good selection, but for some, not that much. I began coding in early childhood and worked my way up step by step in Tech, continuously learning. I have seen behaviors of many kinds.

The question is how do you like to spend your time at work. With people, or less with people?

Resolving complex problems requires more uninterrupted time than many other job functions in Tech and therefore developer roles are vulnerable to interruptions.

It is closer to a research role as it requires a lot of thinking and not that much talking. Of course, reflecting on others is a big part, but it is different than in other roles in Tech.

Hence, it is a horror to see people who code working in noisy and busy spaces, instead of silent rooms. All the noise and hassle around will most definitely increase the brain's negative wiring and stress due to constant interruption in the flow and it also will have a severe impact on the efficiency and timelines.

Overcoming the biases in developer recruiting and team building

Sometimes I see bias in recruitment, or for instance, in DevOps team planning because if you are a coder, you are a loner, and of course, you need to be a people-hating introvert. The reason for this is a lack of understanding of the role.

You can try with a timer of how your brain reacts when you take a puzzle that is a bit more complex to solve and ask someone to interrupt, walk by, ask or speak on the phone next to you. Then try it without interruptions.

What is the difference between interrupted and uninterrupted time?

Therefore there are different skills in Tech. Not everyone will become a developer or learn how to code properly. No-code and low-code will help to some extent.

Bad habits of learning and unlearning them to be successful in learning

Bad habits that I have found when some of the people first time come to my class to learn:

1. Expectation setting. I have seen some creating an overwhelming emotion by setting the bar themselves and being stressed before they have even started to learn.

2. Competition, trying to be better than those who have much more experience.

These bad habits I typically train people away from, because they are actually obstacles in successful learning. And successful they have also become after.

Setting too high expectations and focusing on others makes us being overwhelmed before learning, and internal competition just nourishes a poor culture, which costs approx. 67% of the efficiency of a team. That's why bad habits need to go.

One of my students once said: "I find this positive environment to have an impact on my learning skills, I seem to learn faster and more when I let loose and have a bit of fun as well"

Well said!

You can read more about our EDULINE100 concept here. We developed a program, that helps companies to enable their employees to become the best professionals in Tech!

Tessa, Founder of Techie Stories