I've spent 14+ years in the software industry in either an IC (individual contributor) role, as an engineering lead, or as a manager. I've worked in both the public and private sector. I've worked at companies as large as 100,000+ people and as small as 19 people. One thing that's been pretty consistent over time is that people first entering into the software industry are ill-prepared for what it means to be a professional software developer. This is equally as true for those coming out of college as it is for those transitioning to software from another industry.
What I'd like to do in this post is outline some of the gaps I've seen in people's preparation and try to pave the way toward helping those interested in software development understand what's expected of them in the industry and how to be prepared.
While the following post will focus on being a good software developer, most of what I outline is applicable to other roles in the software industry such as project/program/product management.
This will be a mult-part post. In part one I will focus on what software development is not.
Being a good software developer is not just being able to code
You're part of a team. Software development isn't just about solving problems with efficient algorithms. You're part of a team which is part of a larger ecosystem. There are product people trying to manage the vision of the software. Their are project people trying to manage the cadence of the software life-cycle. There are other engineers consuming the output of your work. There are internal and external customers trying to use your software to make their lives more meaningful either by being more efficient, participating in some sort of community, or just goofing off playing a game you've written.
Because of this people are relying on you to be an effective communicator. They're relying on you to be effective with time management. They're relying on you to ask for help when you get stuck. They expect you not to go dark. And they're relying on you to help them out when they get stuck.
Essentially you're part of a new tribe, each person having different but overlapping responsibilities. It's important to remember to grow your skills both technically AND with soft skills.
Being a good software developer is not about being clever
One of the biggest mistakes I see newer folks in the software industry make is trying to be too clever in their solutions. Writing software that lasts is about simplicity. Learning to write simple code that clearly communicates it's intentions and intended purpose(s) means that it will be used effectively. Writing code that is clear means that it's readable.
In the software industry you're going to spend more of your time reading other peoples code than you will actually writing code. It's important to learn what it means to write readable code. I would highly recommend you read the book Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship.
Being a good software developer is not about personal style
Every industry has it's own DSL (domain specific language). That DSL helps people to communicate more effectively within the industry by removing ambiguity and subjectivity. Software development has several different layers of DSLs that it is important to learn.
There are language specific idioms and standards that it's important to be familiar with. There are platform specific standards. For instance standard *nix programs tend to do one thing that can be chained (or composed) with other programs (by piping) to serve some larger purpose. Whereas on the other hand, Windows programs tend to be monolothic in nature and self contained. It's important to know what the standards are for the platform you're working on.
In the same way there are going to be general coding standards that are industry accepted as well as coding standards that are specific your new organization. Your organization will also likely have it's own set of standard tooling for development, deployment, and distribution.
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