Raise your hand if your first venture into programming was building a farming simulator complete with livestock, crops, market prices, microloans, interest rates, and even weather at age 12. Anyone’s hand go up? We know for sure that Matt Ruwe’s (Senior Software Engineer and Strategist at Kiewit) did! He may have started back in middle school on an old IBM …
As software developers in 100% remote work environments, we now have additional challenges stemming from the loss of face-to-face communication. In many situations, this can lead to harmful trends in coworker interactions—less job satisfaction, co-worker interactions, and overall team success. One way to combat this negative side effect of remote work is to increase Emotional Intelligence as an individual software developer.
In this blog, we discuss how interactions between software developers are affected by Emotional Intelligence (EQ). In addition to the basic components of EQ, we discuss suggestions for improving Emotional Intelligence in common interactions experienced by software developers.
Imparting Knowledge And Preparing For The End Of A Contract
In this blog, I share an example of a consulting engagement that required significant knowledge transfer to new hires. We detail an approach for teaching Spring Batch to developers with no previous experience in Java or the Spring Framework.
The goal is to provide a real-world example of closing a contract, imparting knowledge with the client and their employees, and the potential issues faced in the process.
I’ve been in the field of programming professionally since 1990. I started out as a corporate employee for 14 years, then as a consultant, back to an employee, and finally settled with consulting. In both positions, I’ve worked with small, medium, large, and huge Fortune 50 corporations. There are many similarities between being an employee and a consultant, but there are also some significant differences.
In this blog, I’ll explore what life has been like in each role and hopefully give some perspective to others who might just be starting out. Keep in mind when I write “employee,” I am specifically targeting programmers.
Editor’s Note: After nearly 20 years in software development, Ryan LaRue introduces three lessons he has learned in his programming career with takeaways that apply to all levels of experience.
Open Door Policy
One of the reasons I’ve always loved Software Development is its open door policy to new entrants. No MBA, PhD or, heck, degree required.
If you’re smart, like to solve problems, and get things done, then you will be welcomed with open arms.
At a recent client, one of the company’s permanent developers was, in her near-term past, a police officer. At some point, she decided she didn’t want that lifestyle anymore and worked her way into a nice position with a company that valued her work ethic and programming skills….
