
Ask HN: What made you an effective software engineer in 2018? - iron_oxide
Looking back what skill&#x2F;technology&#x2F;mindset&#x2F;habit&#x2F;etc made you effective this year? Any advice for junior engineers&#x2F;devs?
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paktek123
I think what made me effective was the ability to deliver within deadlines.
This is mainly due to planning and knowing the technology and its quirks.

My advice to junior devs would be always read up and understand a technology
to know how you plan. Sure there will be times where something unexpected
comes up but having multiple scenarios helps that way you don't end up in a
rabbit hole.

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henryscala
I used Typora to keep a to-do list almost every week (I planed to do it
everyday, but failed). The to-do list history showed what I did, where I was
and what to do. It makes me don't forget to finish assignments. It makes me do
things in priority. It turned out to be valuable when my leader asked me to
feedback what I did in this year. I cannot recall that many things I did
without the journal I kept.

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quickthrower2
Keep organised. I use onenote and outlook but anything will do. I keep my
inbox zeroed, make task level personal notes on onenote, and share info on
onenote and Jira as appropriate. I try to avoid using slack for any
information I’d want to retrieve tomorrow or beyond.

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potta_coffee
Being able to communicate with stakeholders, people in other departments if
there are any, basically internal and external customers, and take that
communication and convert it into meaningful and effective action.

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elfuego
What steps did you take to develop these skills?

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potta_coffee
I am lucky that my early education was focused on reading and writing, and
that I was a natural reader and writer at a young age. I believe that those
who can write clearly are generally able to think clearly. Being a decent
writer means you can summarize complex ideas with a small word-count. I'd
suggest focusing on those basics first - being able to summarize complex ideas
in a way that a child can understand.

After that, I gained experience breaking tasks into smaller actionable pieces
and delegating the pieces to others. It's hard to say how you can learn to do
this. I learned over a long period of time by living life. I did do sports,
and I was in the military and learned a lot as an NCO.

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drakonka
Recognising when it was time to transfer to a new position (within the same
company) where I could continue growing as an SE, and acting on it.

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badsavage
Clojure

