fishdan's Journal: 4 tips you need to stay employed

Who I am--developer/architect..did the dot/com, did the successful Hardware company, currently working for a huge health care company writing educational software--though I must admit once a week I get asked to change the printer toner. I usually respond with "No Hablo Anglais!"

1) Be able to DEMONSTRATE that you can build industrial strength software.

Industrial Strength means that the software should NEVER fail because of it's own issues. BUT when it fails because of external issues it should have very good thorough logging and alerting procedures so that it is part of solving whatever went wrong. I hate working with developers who deliver products that don't produce readable logs and aren't configurable through a text file. Also you HAVE to incorporate unit testing. If you can't build the tests you shouldn't be building the product. You must be able to describe the process by which fail proof software gets created. From architecture to pseudocode/UML to planning the unit testing to planning scalability testing. It means that if you have a QA dept you know how to integrate them into the planning stage. A great buzz word to toss around is "multi-disciplinary." But even better than using the word is being able to proove in an interview that you understand that EVERYONE has an equal part in software creation, from user to DBA to QA to you the developer.

2) Love the code!

If you don't love the code, you should get out...the stuff you build will not be worthwhile. I don't mean that you have to love all the code you write, but you DO have to love refactoring, the well tuned application and that small little optimization gain you get by using the right data structure. If you don't love those things (or don't know what I mean!!) it will show up eventually, and you'll be found out...don't set up yourself for dissapointment by trying to last in a field where you don't belong.

3)Be able to sell yourself to the right people

If you can't sell yourself to ANYONE no one will hire you. If you want to be an architect, you have to be able to sell yourself to a suit. If you want to be a coder, you have to be able to sell yourself to an architect. I know this guy who is a damn fine coder, he does the work of any 2 other developers. But two years ago he could only sell himself to other developers who had seen his work. He got his first break by being hired by a company that was run by his cousin....Then his second job he got hired because the developers he worked with previously knew how good he was...during these years he tried to ge better positions, but other than being promoted internally, his quest for a better job outside the company was always thwarted by his lack of social skills. But now, he's out interviewing and getting offers...and it's not because his already exceptional coding skills have increased, but but becuase his previously deficient people skills are starting to catch up. If you can't realize that software development is a customer service industry, and you HAVE to make the customer/consumer happy, then you are not going to stay employed. And again, be able to sell yourself to the right person. If you can't sell yourself to another developer, you're in the wrong line of work If you don't have friends who were developers and would hire you if they could, then you're probably not in the right line of work.

4) Embrace new technology

I'm a Java guy, but I learned C# (well, what there was of it that was new) when it came out. All you C developers who never bothered to learn Java...For shame. One of my standard questions when I interview people is "How many languages can you write 'Hello World' in?" If the number doesn't look right for the persons age, (you should have at least 4) the interview will go down hill from there. (I usually will let them count C++ and C as different languages because I'm generous). I'm not saying you have to be a pro...but please be able to write Hello World in Java, C and one scripting language. And show me that you've picked up a new language/skill in the last year. And of course you have to read to keep your skills up!